U.S. v. Williams

In prosecution on bank robbery charges, Dist. Ct. did not deprive defendant of his 6th Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel when it admitted testimony of defendant’s prior attorney, who stated that defendant had requested him to forward letter asking another individual to provide defendant with false alibi to charged offense. Said testimony did not violate lawyer-client privilege since defendant was not asking for legal advice when requesting prior counsel to forward letter, and applicable ethical rule permitted prior attorney to disclose existence of letter that contained evidence of defendant’s commission of crime of attempted subordination of perjury. Moreover, prior attorney had withdrawn as attorney for defendant at time he testified as govt. witness, and defendant could not assert that his prior counsel rendered ineffective assistance of counsel for actions taken after he had withdrawn from case. However, said testimony should have been excluded under Rule 401 as being unduly prejudicial in relation to its probative value. Any error, though, was harmless where other evidence strongly established defendant’s guilt.