U.S. v. Sellers

In prosecution which resulted in guilty verdict on drug distribution and firearms charges, Dist. Ct. erred in denying defendant's motion to continue trial to permit new counsel time to prepare for trial, even though said motion was filed only 5 days prior to scheduled trial date. Record failed to contain indication that Dist. Ct. had balanced any of defendant's special circumstances against needs of fairness and demands of Dist. Ct.'s calendar, and instead showed that denial was based on arbitrary and unyielding principles that: (1) new counsel must take case as he finds it; (2) continuances should not be granted for those who request them at 11th hour and miss other deadlines; and (3) delay of one case would unfairly backlog other cases. Moreover, Dist. Ct. overlooked defendant's legitimate rationale for firing current counsel where: (1) said counsel had never been defendant's counsel of choice; (2) defendant had expressed disagreements with current counsel; and (3) current counsel believed that another counsel would be entering appearance and trying case.