Does the court err in denying a motion to substitute counsel on the eve of trial?

California, United States of America

The following excerpt is from People v. Topete, B288850 (Cal. App. 2020):

The court did not err. " '[T]he "fair opportunity" to secure counsel of choice provided by the Sixth Amendment "is necessarily [limited by] the countervailing state interest against which the sixth amendment right provides explicit protection: the interest in proceeding with prosecutions on an orderly and expeditious basis, taking into account the practical difficulties of 'assembling the witnesses, lawyers, and jurors at the same place at the same time.' " ' " (People v. Keshishian (2008) 162 Cal.App.4th 425, 428 [affirming denial of eve of trial request for continuance to substitute counsel when case had been pending for two and a half years]; see also People v. Turner (1992) 7 Cal.App.4th 913, 919 [no abuse to deny request on first day of trial as allowing substitution of counsel would necessarily have caused "a significant disruption, i.e., a continuance with the attendant further inconvenience to witnesses and other participants"].)

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