COUNTY COURT’S FAILURE TO MAKE A SEARCHING INQUIRY WHEN DEFENDANT INDICATED HE WISHED TO REPRESENT HIMSELF REQUIRED REVERSAL, DESPITE PRESENCE OF STANDBY COUNSEL (THIRD DEPT).
The Third Department, reversing defendant’s conviction, determined the trial court failed to make a searching inquiry after defendant indicated he wished to represent himself. The trial was conducted with standby counsel:
County Court failed to conduct a sufficient searching inquiry on the record here. At arraignment, defendant unequivocally expressed his intention to forgo his right to counsel and to instead represent and defend himself. Despite defendant’s clear expression of intent from the earliest possible opportunity, County Court made no immediate attempt, either at arraignment or subsequent pretrial proceedings, to conduct the requisite searching inquiry on the record. It was not until the first day of trial that County Court made any attempt to fulfill its obligation to determine whether defendant had knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently waived his right to counsel. At that time, County Court asked defendant a series of relevant questions relating to his background and pedigree, as well as his physical, mental and emotional capacity to represent himself. However, County Court’s belated searching inquiry fell short; the court neither “tested defendant’s understanding of choosing self-representation,” nor warned of “the ‘risks inherent in proceeding pro se'” … . At no point in this record did the court address the dangers and disadvantages of self-representation or impress upon defendant the “singular importance” of being represented by counsel … . In contrast, at trial and prior to trial, County Court made various unwarranted laudatory comments about defendant’s aptitude for self-representation, thereby giving defendant the probable impression that his decision to proceed without counsel was in his best interest. In fact, at several points in the record, defendant undermined any conclusion that his waiver of the right to counsel was knowing, voluntary and intelligent by demonstrating a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of an attorney. For example, as a result of defendant’s uninformed decision, neither he nor his standby counsel attended jury selection. …
The absence of the requisite searching inquiry may be the inadvertent product of County Court’s familiarity with defendant. However, County Court’s history and prior dealings with defendant does not relieve it of its obligation to conduct — and create a record of — the required inquiry … , for this inquiry serves the vital purpose of ensuring that defendant knew “what [he was] doing” and made the choice to forgo counsel with his “‘eyes open'” … . Moreover, neither County Court’s statements regarding its prior experience with defendant, nor its laudatory comments regarding defendant’s prior pro se performance, provide a reliable basis upon which we can conclude that defendant’s waiver of the right to counsel was knowing, voluntary and intelligent … , particularly given defendant’s statement that he had never before represented himself at a trial. People v Myers, 2018 NY Slip Op 02361, Third Dept 4-5-18
CRIMINAL LAW (ATTORNEYS, COUNTY COURT’S FAILURE TO MAKE A SEARCHING INQUIRY WHEN DEFENDANT INDICATED HE WISHED TO REPRESENT HIMSELF REQUIRED REVERSAL, DESPITE PRESENCE OF STANDBY COUNSEL (THIRD DEPT))/ATTORNEYS (CRIMINAL LAW, COUNTY COURT’S FAILURE TO MAKE A SEARCHING INQUIRY WHEN DEFENDANT INDICATED HE WISHED TO REPRESENT HIMSELF REQUIRED REVERSAL, DESPITE PRESENCE OF STANDBY COUNSEL (THIRD DEPT))/RIGHT TO COUNSEL (CRIMINAL LAW, COUNTY COURT’S FAILURE TO MAKE A SEARCHING INQUIRY WHEN DEFENDANT INDICATED HE WISHED TO REPRESENT HIMSELF REQUIRED REVERSAL, DESPITE PRESENCE OF STANDBY COUNSEL (THIRD DEPT))/WAIVER (RIGHT TO COUNSEL, CRIMINAL LAW, COUNTY COURT’S FAILURE TO MAKE A SEARCHING INQUIRY WHEN DEFENDANT INDICATED HE WISHED TO REPRESENT HIMSELF REQUIRED REVERSAL, DESPITE PRESENCE OF STANDBY COUNSEL (THIRD DEPT))/STANDBY COUNSEL (CRIMINAL LAW, COUNTY COURT’S FAILURE TO MAKE A SEARCHING INQUIRY WHEN DEFENDANT INDICATED HE WISHED TO REPRESENT HIMSELF REQUIRED REVERSAL, DESPITE PRESENCE OF STANDBY COUNSEL (THIRD DEPT))