California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Patterson, C075287 (Cal. App. 2015):
"While we do require an indigent criminal defendant who is seeking to substitute one appointed attorney for another to demonstrate either that the first appointed attorney is providing inadequate representation [citations], or that he and the attorney are embroiled in irreconcilable conflict [citation], we have never required a nonindigent criminal defendant to make such a showing in order to discharge his retained counsel." (People v. Ortiz (1990) 51 Cal.3d 975, 984.) The trial court may deny discharge of retained counsel only when the discharge will result in significant prejudice to the defendant or when the discharge request is not timely, i.e., it will disrupt the orderly processes of justice. (Id. at p. 983.)
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