186
Stevens, J., dissenting
U. S., at 722. Despite knowledge of the lawyer's prior representation, she violated that duty.
We will never know whether Mickens would have received the death penalty if those violations had not occurred nor precisely what effect they had on Saunders' representation of Mickens.10 We do know that he did not receive the kind of representation that the Constitution guarantees. If Mickens had been represented by an attorney-impostor who never passed a bar examination, we might also be unable to determine whether the impostor's educational shortcomings " 'actually affected the adequacy of his representation.' " Ante, at 171 (emphasis deleted). We would, however, surely set aside his conviction if the person who had represented him was not a real lawyer. Four compelling reasons make setting aside the conviction the proper remedy in this case.
First, it is the remedy dictated by our holdings in Holloway v. Arkansas, 435 U. S. 475 (1978), Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U. S. 335 (1980), and Wood v. Georgia, 450 U. S. 261 (1981). In this line of precedent, our focus was properly upon the duty of the trial court judge to inquire into a potential conflict. This duty was triggered either via defense counsel's objection, as was the case in Holloway, or some other "special circumstances" whereby the serious potential for conflict was brought to the attention of the trial court judge. Sullivan, 446 U. S., at 346. As we unambiguously stated in Wood, "Sullivan mandates a reversal when the trial court has failed to make an inquiry even though it 'knows or reasonably should know that a particular conflict
10 I disagree with the Court's assertion that the inquiry mandated by Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U. S. 335 (1980), will not aid in the determination of conflict and effect. Ante, at 171. As we have stated, "the evil [of conflict-ridden counsel] is in what the advocate finds himself compelled to refrain from doing, . . . [making it] difficult to judge intelligently the impact of a conflict on the attorney's representation of a client." Holloway v. Arkansas, 435 U. S. 475, 490-491 (1978). An adequate inquiry by the appointing or trial court judge will augment the record thereby making it easier to evaluate the impact of the conflict.
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