Wheat v. United States (486 U.S. 153)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 23, 1988 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 486 U.S. 153 · 108 S. Ct. 1692
- Decided
- May 23, 1988
- Term
- October Term 1987
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Rehnquist
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court. The issue in this case is whether the District Court erred in declining petitioner’s waiver of his right to conflict-free counsel and by refusing to permit petitioner’s proposed substitution of attorneys. I Petitioner Mark Wheat, along with numerous codefend-ants, was charged with participating in a far-flung drug distribution conspiracy. Over a period of several years, many thousands of pounds of marijuana were transported from Mexico and other locations to southern California. Petitioner acted primarily as an intermediary in the distribution ring; he received and stored large shipments of marijuana at his home, then distributed the marijuana to customers in the region. Also charged in the conspiracy were Juvenal Gomez-Barajas and Javier Bravo, who were represented in their criminal proceedings by attorney Eugene Iredale. Gomez-Barajas was tried first and was acquitted on drug charges overlapping with those against petitioner. To avoid a second trial on other charges, however, Gomez-Barajas offered to plead guilty to tax evasion and illegal importation of merchandise. At the commencement of petitioner’s trial, the District Court had not accepted the plea; Gomez-Barajas was thus free to withdraw his guilty plea and proceed to trial. Bravo, evidently a lesser player in the conspiracy, decided to forgo trial and plead…
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