Opinion ID: 445302
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: starns' motion for severance

Text: 42 In Powell v. Alabama, 287 U.S. 45, 53, 53 S.Ct. 55, 77 L.Ed. 158 (1932) the Supreme Court stated: It is hardly necessary to say that, the right to counsel being conceded, a defendant should be afforded a fair opportunity to secure counsel of his own choice. In this case Starns failed to pay the counsel who originally represented him at his indictment, and on July 30, 1982, that attorney moved to withdraw as counsel for Starns. Starns responded to this motion pro se stating that he did not object to the withdrawal and was diligently attempting to find other counsel. The attorney's motion was granted. When Starns appeared at the August 30, 1982, pretrial conference, he still had no counsel, but informed the court that he would hire the same attorney representing co-defendant McConnell if the court would grant a severance. The court declined to grant a severance but urged Starns to employ counsel immediately. Starns indicated he would obtain a lawyer and would not ask for a continuance of the trial. Subsequently, Starns failed to retain counsel, despite making further assurances to the court and despite a continuance of the trial date of nearly two months granted by the court when Starns failed to obey a show cause order to appear. Finally, at a hearing on October 12, 1982, a month before trial, Starns indicated that unless the court granted a severance so he could retain McConnell's attorney, he would represent himself at trial. He did in fact end up representing himself though the court specifically advised him against that course of action. 43 McConnell's and Starns' joint appellate brief asserts that: 44 The court did not make inquiry into his [Starns'] financial condition nor [sic] did not advise him that he need not be indigent to qualify for appointed counsel: one need only be financially unable to obtain counsel.... Starns was not advised of his right to counsel and therefore did not intelligently and voluntarily choose to appear pro se. 45 These allegations are flatly contradicted by the record. Starns was repeatedly urged by the trial court to obtain counsel. He flatly refused to disclose his assets so the court could determine whether he was entitled to government assistance in preparing a defense, and repeatedly asserted that he had sufficient funds, though he claimed that he did not have sufficient funds for any attorney but the one already representing McConnell. Starns' self-contradictory position on the adequacy of his assets seems to boil down to a belief that he had enough money to hire an attorney, but not enough for one who could be as fully and adequately prepared by the time of trial as he felt McConnell's counsel already was. He also asserted that he thought attorneys who wanted large sums of money up front to represent him were predisposed to believe that he was guilty and thus were unacceptable. Starns acknowledged that his position might be unreasonable but nonetheless stated that it was his position. It is no wonder that the trial judge at one point remarked you leave the Court totally in the dark. (Tr. Supp. Vol. IV at 9.) 46 We have on several occasions noted that the Sixth Amendment right to counsel does not include an absolute right to counsel of one's choice. United States v. Gipson, 693 F.2d 109 (10th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1216, 103 S.Ct. 1218, 75 L.Ed.2d 455 (1983); United States v. Peister, 631 F.2d 658 (10th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1126, 101 S.Ct. 945, 67 L.Ed.2d 113 (1981); United States v. Weninger, 624 F.2d 163 (10th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1012, 101 S.Ct. 568, 66 L.Ed.2d 470 (1980). In Gipson we noted that [t]he right to retain counsel of one's choice may not 'be insisted upon in a manner that will obstruct an orderly procedure in courts of justice, and deprive such courts of the exercise of their inherent powers to control the same.'  693 F.2d at 111 quoting United States v. Burton, 584 F.2d 485, 489 (D.C.Cir.1978) cert. denied, 439 U.S. 1069, 99 S.Ct. 837, 59 L.Ed.2d 34 (1979). Here it appears from the record that Starns, by first making repeated assurances to the court that he would obtain counsel and then as the trial date approached, stubbornly resisting any attempt to provide him with an attorney other than the one already employed by McConnell, may have been attempting to manipulate the court into granting a severance, which both he and McConnell desired but were not entitled to on any other basis. We hold that the Sixth Amendment right to counsel does not extend so far that a criminal defendant is entitled to a severance merely because he expresses a preference for an attorney he cannot have any other way. 47 Because Starns carried out his threat to proceed pro se if no severance were granted, this case is a coin with two sides. Having determined that he was not entitled to the severance, we must also determine whether the trial judge adequately insured that Starns' waiver of his right to counsel was an intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right or privilege. Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458, 464, 58 S.Ct. 1019, 1023, 82 L.Ed. 1461 (1938). The record shows that the trial judge did not strictly follow the test we established in Weninger, and reasserted in Gipson, for a judge's responsibility in questioning a defendant about his waiver of counsel. The court did not literally inform Starns of the nature of the charges against him, the statutory offenses included within them, or the range of allowable punishments to which he might be subjected. Nor did the court apprise [him] that possible defenses or mitigating factors might be available to him. Gipson, 693 F.2d at 112. 5 Nonetheless, it would be absurd in this case to believe that Starns did not make a knowing and intelligent waiver. The record discloses that he had read the entire indictment and asserted that he understood it; that he had already begun work on his defense and was aware of the witnesses that the government would present and had made plans to call his own; and that he was aware of the seriousness of the penalty he faced. It also reveals that he had attended two and one half years of law school. It is further beyond question that the trial court's repeated efforts to persuade and enable Starns to obtain his own counsel and its detailed discussion of the hazards of proceeding pro se, were by no means a hollow compliance with the mandate of the Constitution Von Moltke v. Gillies, 332 U.S. 708, 723, 68 S.Ct. 316, 323, 92 L.Ed. 309 (1948). Starns' resistance to these efforts reveals a stubborn, calculated and deliberate insistence on having his own way. Based on the total circumstances of [this] individual case, including background, experience and the conduct of the accused person, Weninger, 624 F.2d at 164 (quoting United States v. Warledo, 557 F.2d 721, 727 (10th Cir.1977)); Johnson v. Zerbst, supra, we must conclude that there has been no violation of Starns' right to counsel. 48 The judgment of the District Court is affirmed in all respects. 49 AFFIRMED.