908
Opinion of the Court
nounced at the outset that, if petitioner were convicted, it would introduce petitioner's then-pending Arizona murder charges as evidence in aggravation. Tr. of Oral Arg. 43.10
At oral argument before this Court, counsel for petitioner suggested, given that at least one of Maloney's former law associates—Robert McGee—was corrupt and involved in bribery, see supra, at 907, that petitioner's trial lawyer might have been appointed with the understanding that he would not object to, or interfere with, a prompt trial, so that petitioner's case could be tried before, and camouflage the bribe negotiations in, the Chow murder case. Tr. of Oral Arg. 17-18, 43-44.11 This is, of course, only a theory at this point; it is not supported by any solid evidence of petitioner's trial lawyer's participation in any such plan. It is true, however, that McGee was corrupt and that petitioner's trial coincided with bribe negotiations in the Chow case and closely followed the Rosario murder case, which was also fixed. See n. 9, supra.
We conclude that petitioner has shown "good cause" for discovery under Rule 6(a). In Harris, we stated that "where specific allegations before the court show reason to
10 Petitioner's lawyer did request a continuance after petitioner was convicted, on July 29, 1981, and again on July 30. Maloney denied these requests, however, and the sentencing hearing was conducted the next day. See People v. Collins, 106 Ill., at 280-281, 478 N. E. 2d, at 286; 81 F. 3d, at 694-695 ("Defense lawyers know . . . [that] if they wish to gather evidence of mitigating circumstances they must do so before the trial ends, because they will have no time to do so after the trial ends. But in this case the defendants' lawyers dropped the ball"); United States ex rel. Collins v. Welborn, 868 F. Supp. 950, 986-987 (ND Ill. 1994) (noting that "no witnesses were presented by [petitioner or his codefendant]").
11 Petitioner's counsel admitted that he "ha[d] not made this exact same argument on a previous occasion, but it is supported by the record." Tr. of Oral Arg. 43. Cf. Reply Brief for Petitioner 6 ("[I]t is impossible to say with confidence that Judge Maloney did not deliberately select a less experienced lawyer to represent Petitioner due to a corrupt motive, such as a desire to insure a guilty verdict and a death sentence in a high profile case").
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