A Client With Two Disbarred Attorneys

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals today amended a decision entered on February 4. The court remanded a criminal case where the trial court had erroneously denied a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel without an evidentiary hearing.

One notable aspect of the case is that both his trial and appellate counsel (one and the same person) and an attorney he retained to handle his appeal were later disbarred. The retained attorney never entered an appearence in connection with the appeal. Trial counsel moved forward with the appeal but did not raise issues concerning his own alleged ineffective assistance. (Mike Frisch)