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DEFENDANT’S REPEATED REQUESTS TO REPRESENT HIMSELF WERE NOT ADEQUATELY ADDRESSED BY THE THREE JUDGES TO WHOM THE REQUESTS WERE MADE; CONVICTION REVERSED AND NEW TRIAL ORDERED (FIRST DEPT). ​

The First Department, reversing defendant’s conviction and ordering a new trial, determined defendant’s repeated requests to represent himself had not been properly addressed by the three calendar judges to whom the requests were made:

“The denial of defendant’s repeated requests to proceed pro se deprived defendant of his right to represent himself and requires reversal of his conviction” … . Although defendant made repeated unequivocal requests to proceed pro se, the calendar courts hearing these applications repeatedly deferred making a ruling. To the extent that these courts can be viewed as having denied the applications on the ground that defendant was disruptive, this was inappropriate because defendant’s only outbursts were the product of his frustration at not receiving a ruling on his rightful applications … . Furthermore, defendant was clearly fit to proceed to trial and fit to waive counsel … . The fact that defendant’s request to proceed pro se was based in part on his disagreements with counsel did not, standing alone, justify the denial of his request … . Defendant expressly stated that he wanted to represent himself, whether or not the court assigned new counsel. People v Goodwin, 2022 NY Slip Op 00281, First Dept 1-18-22

 

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