Here’s the story of an Ohio man standing trial for robbery of a church. Apparently, he was unhappy with his lawyer and the judge, at one point telling the judge that since she was Catholic and he was charged with robbing a church, he couldn’t get a fair trial.

The important part (and what leads to this post) is that he repeatedly asked for a new lawyer and was turned down each time. So when he was wheeled in to start jury selection, he kicked his lawyer and had to be subdued. He continued to ask for a new lawyer and was denied again.

Would you say there’s been a breakdown in the attorney-client relationship when the client attacks the attorney? Is that a good enough time for appointment of new counsel? I know we don’t want to condone this behavior and reward it by immediately appointing new counsel – all clients would have to do is get pissy with their lawyer and threaten to attack them to get new representation – but when the threat is translated into action, I’d think it would be appropriate for either the lawyer to withdraw from the case or for the judge to appoint replacement counsel.

What do you think? Would you seek to withdraw your appearance?

Watch the incident caught on tape:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI15nFIVUE0[/youtube]

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