Defendant was entitled to new trial on murder charges, where Wisconsin state trial court had violated defendant’s right to counsel by denying defendant’s request to represent himself and directing his legal counsel to continue her representation of defendant. Under Faretta, trial court was required to honor defendant’s request assuming that defendant was generally competent, and record showed that instead of trial court warning defendant of risks that attend self-representation and allowing defendant to make decision on whether to represent himself, trial court required defendant to convince it through demonstration of his technical legal knowledge that he understood and accepted challenges of self-representation in light of his limited 10th grade education. Moreover, Ct. noted that there was nothing with respect to defendant’s limited education that would have prevented defendant from determining whether he would have been able to defend himself. Also, Ct. observed that defendant had been able to study court procedures and Wisconsin statutes. As such, Dist. Ct. erred in denying defendant’s habeas petition.
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Criminal Court
Right to Counsel