State v. Rogers, 219 N.C. App. 296

Defendant Rogers, charged with attempted first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, shot Ralston after an encounter at Ralston's driveway.
Rogers had an ongoing affair with Ralston's wife, Chardell, and communicated with her via Rogers's friend Eads, creating potential conflicts of interest for counsel.
Eads, Rogers's retained attorney, faced a motion in limine based on potential conflicts if he testified; the trial court disqualified Eads and appointed the Public Defender, which Rogers declined to accept, proceeding pro se.
An appeal of the disqualification ruling was dismissed; trial proceeded with Rogers represented by new counsel and then by himself at trial.
Jury convicted Rogers of attempted first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious bodily injury; he was sentenced to 132 to 168 months.
Rogers challenged (I) the disqualification as structural error, (II) a jury instruction placing the burden on him to prove automatism, and (III) double jeopardy based on multiple offenses.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether disqualifying retained counsel was proper	Rogers argues it's structural error; improper standard and lack of findings.	Rogers contends disqualification was erroneous and violated Sixth Amendment right to counsel of choice.	Disqualification was proper; trial court had substantial latitude to avoid conflict.
Whether the court erred in instructing automatism burden	State contends automatism is an affirmative defense and burden on defendant is proper.	Rogers argues the instruction misallocated burden of proof.	No plain error; automatism burden on defendant approved.
Whether double jeopardy was violated by dual convictions	Two offenses based on the same incident but with potentially distinct elements.	Conviction for both offenses violates double jeopardy because of identical evidence.	No double jeopardy; offenses have at least one distinct element.

United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez, 548 U.S. 140 (U.S. 2006) (structural error for right to counsel of choice when counsel disqualified)
State v. Shores, 102 N.C.App. 473 (N.C.App. 1991) (conflict-of-interest waivers; trial court must have latitude)
Wheat v. United States, 486 U.S. 153 (U.S. 1988) (district court latitude in refusing waivers of conflicts)
State v. Taylor, 155 N.C.App. 251 (N.C.App. 2002) (disqualification affirmed for potential conflict; pretrial context)
State v. Jones, 137 N.C.App. 221 (N.C.App. 2000) (automatism burden on defendant; no plain error)
State v. Tirado, 358 N.C. 551 (N.C. 2004) (two offenses with different elements; no double jeopardy)
State v. Garris, 191 N.C.App. 276 (N.C.App. 2008) (double jeopardy considerations with overlapping offenses)
State v. Peoples, 141 N.C.App. 115 (N.C.App. 2000) (same-incident offenses not barred by double jeopardy)