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ARTICLE 10 PROCEEDINGS ARE CIVIL IN NATURE, HOWEVER THE COURT ANALYZED WHETHER RESPONDENT COULD REPRESENT HIMSELF AND WHETHER HE WAS AFFORDED EFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE USING THE CRIMINAL LAW STANDARDS (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice McCarthy, determined that Article 10 sex-offender commitment proceedings are civil in nature, but analyzed respondent’s request to represent himself and whether respondent received ineffective assistance under the criminal-law standards:

Supreme Court did not err in denying respondent’s request to proceed pro se. Assuming, without deciding, that a respondent in a Mental Hygiene Law article 10 proceeding has the same right of self-representation as a criminal defendant …, respondent’s request here was denied based on his failure to meet two prongs of the three-prong test:

“A defendant in a criminal case may invoke the right to defend pro se provided: (1) the request is unequivocal and timely asserted, (2) there has been a knowing and intelligent waiver of the right to counsel, and (3) the defendant has not engaged in conduct which would prevent the fair and orderly exposition of the issues” … .

Respondent made his request to proceed pro se only two business days before the second trial was scheduled to begin, which the court properly found untimely … . …The court properly denied his request based on … comments indicating that he would attempt to disrupt or prevent the orderly conduct of the trial …, along with the untimeliness of the request. …

Respondent was not deprived of the effective assistance of counsel. Initially, we hold that while Mental Hygiene Law article 10 proceedings are civil rather than criminal, and that ineffective assistance of counsel may only be considered in civil litigation if extraordinary circumstances are present, the indefinite and involuntary nature of confinement that may result in this type of proceeding constitutes such an extraordinary circumstance … .

Applying the criminal standard, we must determine whether “the evidence, the law, and the circumstances of [the] particular case, viewed in totality and as of the time of the representation, reveal that the attorney provided meaningful representation” … . Matter of State of New York v Timothy BB., 2013 NY Slip Op 07774 [113 AD3d 18], Third Dept 11-21-13

 

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