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SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA No. 98-K-2078 STATE OF LOUISIANA v. JERRY SMITH, GERRICK J. WATTS, AND BERNARD MYLES On Writ of Certiorari to the First Circuit Court of Appeal

PER CURIAM:* Friends for life, the three defendants in this case stood trial together for second degree murder represented by the same lawyers, although it was undisputed that Watts alone fired the fatal shots which claimed the victim's life. Following their

convictions for second degree murder and sentences of life imprisonment at hard labor, the defendants filed separate briefs on appeal through separate counsel, each claiming that the trial court knew or should have known that trial counsel had labored under an actual conflict of interest which eroded their zeal in representing their client. The court of appeal agreed that

"[c]ounsel's ardor in defending Smith and Myles by placing all blame on Watts was dampened by their duty to defend Watts," while conversely, "their defense of Watts was impaired by their duty to defend Smith and Myles." State v. Smith, 96-2626, p. 6 (La. App. The majority on the

1st Cir. 6/29/98), 715 So.2d 1226, 1230.

panel accordingly reversed the convictions and sentences of all three defendants. Id. Dissenting, Lottinger, C.J., argued that

"[t]he defenses offered on behalf of all three defendants were compatible and entirely consistent." Smith, 96-2626 at 1, 715

Calogero, C.J., not on panel. II,

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