The Father, the Son and the Holy Buck
A capital case in Alabama raises the question: are you entitled to a conflict-free lawyer?
Behrouz Rahmati, an experienced and capable lawyer, was caught between a son and his father on the eve of a capital trial in Alabama two decades ago. The son was the one on trial for murder with his life on the line. The father was the one paying the bills. It all went smoothly until Rahmati found out, two days before trial, that the father may have physically abused the son as a child. The lawyer then made a fateful choice that now is up for review by the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices have been asked to refine the rules governing attorney conflicts of interest when there may be what the law calls “divided loyalties” during a case.
When Rahmati made his choice before that 1998 trial, an appellate team now asserts, the interests
