Criminal Procedure — self-representation

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United States Court of Appeals
Criminal
Criminal Procedure
Self-representation
In the absence of an unequivocal demand for self-representation, the defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to represent himself was not denied.
“Campbell responded to the court’s question at the hearing by indicating that he did not intend to represent himself. Although the context of the question would cause us to question the validity of the response, at a minimum it casts some doubt as to whether Campbell sought to waive counsel. In a discussion with Campbell’s counsel at the close of the hearing, the court made it clear that it interpreted Campbell’s response as indicating that he did not want to represent himself. Although present during that discussion, Campbell said nothing to rebut that characterization. In fact, Campbell never raised the matter again. The initial answer, followed by the silence and the subsequent acceptance of representation throughout the trial, indicate that Campbell in fact desired to retain counsel despite his earlier misgivings about Taylor. There is no unequivocal waiver of the right to counsel or unequivocal demand to proceed pro se, and therefore no Sixth Amendment violation of the right to self-representation.”
Affirmed.
10-3002 U.S. v. Campbell
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois, McCuskey, J., Rovner, J.