Opinion ID: 216617
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sixth Amendment Right to Waive Counsel

Text: Federal criminal defendants have both statutory and Sixth Amendment rights to waive counsel and represent themselves when they voluntarily and intelligently so elect. 28 U.S.C. § 1654; Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 95 S. Ct. 2525 (1975). However, the right to proceed pro se in a criminal trial does not imply there are additional rights to access legal materials or law libraries. “When an accused manages his own defense, he relinquishes, as a purely factual matter, many of the traditional benefits associated with the right to counsel.” Faretta, 422 U.S. at 835, 95 S. Ct. at 2541; see United States v. Smith, 907 F.2d 42, 45 (6th Cir. 1990) (“We find that by knowingly and intelligently waiving his right to counsel, the appellant also relinquished his access to a law library.”); United States v. Wilson, 690 F.2d 1267, 1271 (9th Cir. 1982) (“We decline to interpret the right to 6 self-representation under the Sixth Amendment to include a right to conduct one’s own research at government expense.”). Thus, to the extent that Smith argues that his Sixth Amendment rights were violated due to the lack of a law library at Jefferson County LEC, his complaint fails to state a claim. Smith had the option of being represented by counsel but chose to proceed pro se, during which time his appointed counsel remained on duty as standby counsel. Given the particular facts of this case, the Sixth Amendment does not grant Smith a right to access a law library at Jefferson County LEC in order to prepare his defense.