Opinion ID: 859229
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Revocation of Pro Per Status

Text: ¶7 Gomez argues that, after the case was remanded for resentencing, the trial court erred by revoking his pro per status and appointing counsel to represent him. At the initial sentencing trial, Gomez represented himself until closing arguments, when he chose to be represented by advisory counsel. Gomez, 211 Ariz. at 498 ¶ 16, 123 P.3d at 1135. On remand in 2006, the trial court granted Gomez’s request to represent 3 himself in the resentencing and appointed a mitigation expert and advisory counsel to assist him. Nearly three years later, the trial court revoked Gomez’s pro per status, noting that Gomez had been unable to comply with the court’s deadlines and the disclosure rules for criminal cases. ¶8 A trial court’s decision to revoke a defendant’s selfrepresentation is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. See State v. Martin, 102 Ariz. 142, 146, 426 P.2d 639, 643 (1967). “The right to counsel under both the United States and Arizona Constitutions includes an accused’s right to proceed without counsel and represent himself,” State v. Lamar, 205 Ariz. 431, 435 ¶ 22, 72 P.3d 831, 835 (2003), “but only so long as the defendant ‘is able and willing to abide by the rules of procedure and courtroom protocol.’” State v. Whalen, 192 Ariz. 103, 106, 961 P.2d 1051, 1054 (App. 1997) (quoting McKaskle v. Wiggins, 465 U.S. 168, 173 (1984)). ¶9 The trial court revoked Gomez’s right to self- representation only after repeatedly admonishing him to comply with court rules and deadlines and that noncompliance could result in the loss of his pro per status. In May 2007, after Gomez had represented himself for ten months, the trial court instructed Gomez, his advisory counsel, and his mitigation consultant that they needed to set a realistic schedule for completing their mitigation investigation so the court could set 4 a trial date. The mitigation specialist responded that he would need time to travel to the Dominican Republic (where Gomez lived until 1987) and elsewhere outside Arizona to interview people. In August 2007, the court set a “firm” trial date for September 2, 2008; set a disclosure deadline; and told Gomez that, if he failed to follow the rules and prepare for the resentencing trial, his pro per status would be revoked. ¶10 In May 2008, Gomez told the court that he needed at least another eighteen months to prepare. On the recommendation of a mitigation special master, the trial court reset the trial for June 1, 2009. The court again warned Gomez to comply with the court rules and that his pro per status would be revoked if he was not prepared on the rescheduled date. After advisory counsel told the court that the defense would get a psychologist expert and complete testing of Gomez by November 2008, the mitigation special master set a deadline of November 15, 2008 for completing all psychological testing. Despite this deadline, Gomez twice failed to meet with defense psychologists who came to interview him. ¶11 In November 2008, the trial court denied Gomez’s motion to change advisory counsel and again warned Gomez that he would lose the right to represent himself if he did not follow court rules. The next month, the court denied Gomez’s request to extend the discovery deadlines; ordered Gomez to make all 5 required disclosures by January 23, 2009; and affirmed the June 1, 2009 trial date. In violation of that order and Rule 15.2 of the Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure, Gomez, in January 2009, disclosed the names of some 360 witnesses for the resentencing trial, including a neuropsychologist and a psychologist, without also disclosing any expert reports. The listed witnesses included more than 150 “out of state character witnesses,” more than 70 police officers, Gomez’s former defense attorneys, 2 former Arizona attorneys general, and a former Arizona governor. The disclosure did not include addresses for the witnesses. It suggested that Gomez intended to offer evidence challenging the police investigation of the murder or the validity of his convictions, matters that the trial court had told Gomez were not at issue in the resentencing proceeding. ¶12 After the State moved to obtain the required disclosures, the trial court gave Gomez until March 25, 2009 to “fully comply with Rule 15.2” and again warned Gomez that his failure to follow the rules could result in loss of his pro per status. On March 25, Gomez filed a notice again listing hundreds of witnesses; he included telephone numbers or addresses for about eighty. At a hearing on March 30, he told the court that he “still [had] many other things” he needed to do and that the identified neuropsychologist and psychologist experts had not yet examined him. Advisory counsel subsequently 6 disclosed two new psychologist experts and told the court that these experts would examine Gomez in April and their reports would be ready before the June 1, 2009 trial date. Noting that this timetable would allow the State little time to obtain rebuttal evidence, the court set a hearing to show cause why it should not revoke Gomez’s pro per status and assign counsel to represent him. ¶13 At the April 14, 2009 show cause hearing, Gomez said he had done everything he had been told to do, he wished to continue representing himself, and he was ready to proceed with his resentencing trial. Finding that Gomez had been unable to comply with Rule 15, the trial court revoked his pro per status and reset the trial date for September 2009. The court also appointed the two lawyers who had served as advisory counsel since 2006 (Herman Alcantar, Jr. and Christopher Flores) to represent Gomez. The trial was subsequently postponed due to conflicts in the attorneys’ schedules and did not occur until September 2010. ¶14 Gomez argues that the trial court erred in revoking his pro per status for several reasons. First, he contends that he complied with Rule 15’s disclosure requirements and that, if he failed to do so, the trial court should have precluded his witnesses rather than revoke his pro per status. Second, he states that his appointed counsel did not add to his pro per 7 disclosures and did not ultimately present any experts, and that the trial did not take place until seventeen months after his pro per status was revoked. Finally, he argues that revocation is not appropriate unless a pro per defendant engages in “serious obstructionist conduct” in the courtroom, citing United States v. Johnson, 610 F.3d 1138, 1144 (9th Cir. 2010). ¶15 We disagree. “[A] defendant who proves himself incapable of abiding by the most basic rules of the court is not entitled to defend himself.” Deck, 544 U.S. at 656. Accordingly, a trial court “may terminate self-representation by a defendant who deliberately engages in serious and obstructionist misconduct.” Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 834 n.46 (1975). As Faretta acknowledges, a selfrepresented defendant must not only respect the dignity of the courtroom, but also “comply with relevant rules of procedural and substantive law.” Id. Thus, a trial court may revoke pro per status for serious violations of court orders and rules even if the conduct occurs outside a courtroom proceeding. ¶16 Gomez demonstrated over several years that he could not comply with court deadlines and the disclosure rules. The trial court repeatedly warned Gomez that his noncompliance could result in loss of pro per status. The trial court revoked that status only after it had become evident that Gomez’s continued self-representation would undermine the court’s authority and 8 ability to conduct the proceeding in an efficient and orderly manner. Cf. Whalen, 192 Ariz. at 107-08, 961 P.2d at 1055-56 (upholding trial court’s revocation of pro per status when defendant failed to comply with a court order to conduct defense from the front of courtroom). That the trial court might have precluded witnesses as a sanction for Gomez’s violations of Rule 15.2 does not mean that the court was prevented from revoking his pro per status. Gomez’s conduct gave the trial court ample grounds to revoke his pro per status in April 2009 - a conclusion that is not affected by the later postponement of the trial until September 2010 or by Gomez’s assertions that his appointed counsel did not provide any additional disclosures and ultimately did not present expert witnesses. ¶17 The trial court did not abuse its discretion by revoking Gomez’s pro per status and appointing counsel to represent him.