Summary
In Rogers v. State, Fla.App., 212 So.2d 367, cert. denied March 5, 1969, this court adopted the view that in order to complain of dual representation by counsel at the trial level, an appellant must show that he objected thereto at the trial and also that on appeal there must be a showing of prejudice arising from the dual representation at the trial.
Summary of this case from Wilson v. StateOpinion
No. J-417.
July 9, 1968.
Appeal from the Criminal Court of Record for Duval County, A. Lloyd Layton, J.
T. Edward Austin, Jr., Public Defender; and Ralph W. Nimmons, Jr., Asst. Public Defender, for appellants.
Earl Faircloth, Atty. Gen., and Wallace E. Allbritton, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Appellants were convicted of the offense of robbery in the Criminal Court of Record of Duval County, Florida. The Public Defender's Office was appointed to represent and did represent the defendants at the trial and as well on this appeal.
The two grounds urged on this appeal are: (1) lack of sufficiency of evidence to support the verdicts, and (2) error of the court in appointing one attorney to represent two joint defendants.
As to the first question, this Court will not substitute its judgment for that of the jury and the trial judge in the absence of a showing of such lack of competent evidence as to constitute a fundamental error. In this case, such lack was not shown to exist.
As to the other question, the appointment of one attorney to represent two defendants, this Court agrees with and adopts as its opinion the holding of the Third District Court of Appeal of Florida in its recent case of Belton v. State, 211 So.2d 238.
In the case sub judice, there was no objection raised at the trial level as to the apportionment of counsel and there was not shown there nor in this court that there was a conflict or prejudice by reason of the same attorney representing both defendants. In fact, if we held otherwise, the same complaint could be made about one attorney representing both defendants on this appeal and so on ad infinitum.
Affirmed.
RAWLS, Acting C.J., and SPECTOR, J., concur.