U.S. v. Beckley, 55 M.J. 15

Military Justice Personnel: Defense Function: Right to Counsel

1. in the military, as in civilian trials, the right to counsel is not absolute; under RCM 506(c), defense counsel may be excused "with the express consent of the accused, or by the military judge upon application for withdrawal by the defense counsel for good cause shown
2. good cause for withdrawal of defense counsel under RCM 506(c) is provided by ethical standards prohibiting counsel from representing two clients in a substantially related matter where the interests of those clients are materially or directly adverse, unless each client consents after being informed of the conflict
3. where appellant’s wife was earlier represented by civilian defense counsel’s law firm in a divorce action against appellant, and where appellant’s wife did not consent to that firm’s subsequent representation of appellant on criminal charges which bore some factual relationship to the divorce action, good cause existed for the withdrawal of civilian defense counsel
4. where only one party waived a conflict of interests issue, neither the staff judge advocate’s office nor the trial court violated the Sixth Amendment or Articles 27 and 38 by infringing on appellant’s choice of specific civilian defense counsel

Military Justice Personnel: Defense Function: Civilian Counsel

1. where appellant’s wife was earlier represented by civilian defense counsel’s law firm in a divorce action against appellant, and where appellant’s wife did not consent to that firm’s subsequent representation of appellant on criminal charges which bore some factual relationship to the divorce action, good cause existed for the withdrawal of civilian defense counsel
2. where only one party waived a conflict of interests issue, neither the staff judge advocate’s office nor the trial court violated the Sixth Amendment or Articles 27 and 38 by infringing on appellant’s choice of specific civilian defense counsel