United States v. Robert A. Frame, Jr.

454 F.2d 1136 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Robert A. FRAME, Jr., Defendant-Appellant. No. 71-1516. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Jan. 20, 1972. John D. Lewis, of Holman & Lewis, Tempe, Ariz., for defendant-appellant. Richard K. Burke, U. S. Atty., Morton Sitver, Asst. U. S. Atty., Phoenix, Ariz., for plaintiff-appellee. Before BROWNING, KILKENNY, and TRASK, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: 1 Robert A. Frame is a manufacturer and seller of methamphetamine. He was charged, tried, and found guilty of four federal narcotics violations, receiving concurrent sentences on the four counts. On June 2, 1971, his conviction was affirmed by a panel of this court. Frame v. United States, 9 Cir., 444 F.2d 71 . 2 While the appeal was pending Frame filed a motion for a new trial in the district court, based upon "newly discovered evidence" that his pretrial and trial counsel, Donald Wolfram, had a conflict of interest because he also represented one John Pike, one of Frame's customers and a dealer in narcotics. 3 On February 26, 1971, the district court held a hearing on the motion. Wolfram testified that he had represented Pike "on numerous occasions in…

(concurring) :

I concur in the result.

Robert A. Frame is a manufacturer and seller of methamphetamine. He was charged, tried, and found guilty of four federal narcotics violations, receiving concurrent sentences on the four counts. On June 2, 1971, his conviction was affirmed by a panel of this court. Frame v. United States, 9 Cir., 444 F.2d 71 .

While the appeal was pending Frame filed a motion for a new trial in the district court, based upon “newly discovered evidence” that his pretrial and trial counsel, Donald Wolfram, had a conflict of interest because he also represented one John Pike, one of Frame’s customers and a dealer in narcotics.

On February 26, 1971, the district court held a hearing on the motion. Wolfram testified that he had represented Pike “on numerous occasions in numerous cases,” all unrelated to the charges against Frame. When Frame approached Wolfram about representing him on the narcotics charges, Frame told Wolfram that he had information that was detrimental to Pike. Attorney Wolfram testified:

Thereafter, two attempts were made to negotiate a plea to a lesser offense. Both were unsuccessful. No mention was made by Frame or Wolfram of the possibility of Frame’s giving evidence against…