Winters

MEMORANDUM **

Defendant Andre Deshawn Winters asserts on appeal that the district court improperly denied his attorney’s motion to withdraw as counsel prior to trial. Because we agree that the district court failed to conduct an adequate inquiry into that motion, we reverse the conviction and remand for a new trial without reaching the other issues raised. Of course, even though we have not addressed it here, the district court’s denial of the competency motion will have no impact on any later competency motion based on Winters’ condition at the time of any later proceedings in this case.

We review a district court’s denial of a motion to substitute counsel for abuse of discretion, United States v. D’Amore, 56 F.3d 1202, 1204 (9th Cir.1995) overruled on other grounds by United States v. Garrett, 179 F.3d 1143 (9th Cir.1999), and consider three factors to determine whether a district court has, in fact, abused its discretion: (1) the timeliness of the motion; (2) the adequacy of the district court’s inquiry into its basis; and (3) the extent of the conflict between the defendant and his lawyer. United States v. Adelzo-Gonzalez, 268 F.3d 772, 777 (9th Cir.2001); United States v.…