Court Did Not Conduct an Adequate “Searching Inquiry” Before Allowed Defendant to Represent Himself—New Trial Ordered

The First Department, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Acosta, determined the trial judge did not conduct the requisite “searching inquiry” before allowing the defendant to represent himself.  The opinion includes all of the relevant exchanges between the judge and the defendant and compared those exchanges to the inquiry made in People v Wingate, 17 NY3d 469, where the Court of Appeals determined the inquiry by the trial court to be adequate:

Here, we find that the trial court’s inquiry failed to satisfy [the] “searching inquiry” standard. The court gave nothing more than generalized warnings, and completely failed to advise defendant of the benefits of being represented by counsel. The court’s statements to defendant that it was in his “interest” to continue with counsel; that “[g];enerally, [self-representation]; is a very bad idea”; and that there were “all kinds of dangers in doing this,” its sole example being that defendant would have to give the opening statement himself, failed to insure that the dangers and disadvantages of giving up the fundamental right to counsel [had]; been impressed on . . . defendant” … . The court also failed to advise defendant about the “importance of the lawyer in the adversarial system of adjudication” … . Because we find that the court did not make the requisite searching inquiry, we reverse the judgment convicting defendant and remand for a new trial.  People v Cole, 2014 NY Slip Op 04076, 1st Dept 6-5-14