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Criminal Procedure — self-representation

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//July 30, 2014//

Criminal Procedure — self-representation

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//July 30, 2014//

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U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit

Criminal

Criminal Procedure — self-representation

Where a defendant was not permitted to represent himself until after a suppression hearing was held, over his objection, he is entitled to a new suppression hearing.

“[O]ur defendant is not entitled to more than a re-do of the suppression hearing, this time representing himself. Allowed to do that, he obtains everything to which he’s entitled. This is not a case in which a court rules (improperly) that a defendant wasn’t harmed by the denial of a fundamental procedural right because the denial did not affect the outcome; it is a case in which we are ordering that a procedural right be restored—and once that is done the defendant has no basis for complaining if the exercise of that right turns out to be of no benefit to him. If after a suppression hearing in which he again chooses and this time is permitted to represent himself the district court denies the motion to suppress, there will be no basis for a new trial. For the defendant—who was permitted to represent himself at trial—will have been granted all the procedural rights to which he was entitled.”

Vacated.

13-1976 U.S. v. Lee

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Clevert, J., Posner, J.

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