U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
United States v. Hermanek
This writing
- Type
- Opinion of the Court
- Filed
- May 15, 2002
- Case
- United States v. Hermanek
- Case status
- Decided
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Opening text
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MEMORANDUM ** Appellants appeal their convictions and sentences after their joint trial for cocaine trafficking, cocaine possession and related crimes. 1 Because the parties are familiar with the facts, we recite only those facts necessary to explain our disposition. Ex Parte Hearing Appellants contend a pretrial, ex parte hearing held between the government and the district court regarding Rutherford’s motions to substitute counsel and for severance violated Rutherford’s right to counsel, all appellants’ right to be present at trial and all appellants’ right to appeal. We assume that the hearing took place, although no transcript exists. Right to Counsel and Right to Be Present Assuming that the ex parte hearing was a critical stage of the proceedings, we conclude that any deprivation of appellants’ Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Rutherford made several motions and requests relating to substitution of counsel and severance before, during and after the trial and several hearings were conducted to consider those requests. The district court denied Rutherford’s motion for sev *431 erance subsequent to and without relying on the contents of th…
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