Lawyer's Weekly Dated 3/16/2020 (This Week's Decisions):
Where a mother's parental rights to her daughter were terminated by a juvenile Court judge, the mother was not constructively denied the assistance of counsel.
Affirmed.
"...We consider the options available to a judge when a parent provides no instructions to her appointed attorney considrning the proceedings. We conclude that a judge has the discretion to strike the attorney's appearance, but may instead have the attorney participate in the trial as an officer of the court. In such a circumstance, the attorney generally will be unable to advocate for a particicular outcome, and the attorney's consequent limited activity is not a constructive denial of counsel. Further concluding that the mother was not prejudiced by the judge's citations to two exhibits introduced after the termination trial, we affirm the decree.
"The mother argues that she was constructively denied the assistance of counsel. We disagree. Essentially, the mother asserts that, where an attorney who has received no instructions is denied leave to withdraw, that attorney must presume the parent opposes termination, and must advocate for that position to automatically be found ineffective. As we explain, such a presumption is not generally sound...
"The mother was not constructively denied counsel. She had been appointed five attorneys, and each of them moved to withdraw. ...The judge did not abuse her discretion in denying the fifth attorney's motion to withdraw, when it was the day of trial and the motion was based only on the apparently inaccurate premise that the mother had hired private counsel. ... A judge must balance the interests of the parent with the child's interest in finality. ...The judge acted within her discretion in denying the motion to withdraw. ...
"Assuming the dubious proposition that we can analyze the effectiveness of an attorney who has received no instructions from her client, the mother has not demonstrated any prejudice. ...As we discuss infra, 'the evidence of the mother's unfitness was overwhelming.' ...The mother has not identified any steps that would have allowed her to avoid termination of her parental rights or alleged any way in which she was denied a substantial defense. ...Accordingly, she has failed to show that counsel was ineffective."
