US v. Turner, No. 08-2350

District court's disqualification of defendant's retained counsel from representing him in a prosecution for conspiracy to distribute cocaine because the attorney was also representing an alleged co-conspirator in sentencing proceedings is reversed and remanded for retrial as the district court's disqualification order violated defendant's Sixth Amendment right to choose his own counsel, and, under Gonzalez-Lopez, this constitutional violation is a structural error not subject to review for harmlessness.     

Read US v. Turner, No. 08-2350

Appellate Information

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois

Decided February 2, 2010

Judges

Before: Easterbrook. Chief Judge, and Sykes, and Kendall, District Judge

Opinion by Circuit Judge  Sykes