Court Opinion

ID: 9469819
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:49:56.381994+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:41:35.104616
License: Public Domain

FLETCHER, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
Because the majority misconstrues Wilson’s self-representation claim and errone*1277ously concludes that he was not denied his right to self-representation, I must dissent.
Wilson wanted to represent himself; he said so unequivocally at his arraignment. Instead, after a hearing, the magistrate appointed counsel to represent Wilson because “the defendant lacks sufficient background educationally or otherwise to adequately represent himself .... ” Wilson attempted to appeal the magistrate’s denial of his request to represent himself but received no response. He filed a “Notice of Intent to Appeal Denial of Motion to Proceed in Propia Persona” with the district court. Although the motion was erroneously styled an appeal to the Ninth Circuit, the court received the document long before Wilson’s trial. Nothing prevented the court from informing Wilson of his error or simply overlooking the error and considering the motion as though it had been properly styled an appeal to the district court. See Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520, 92 S.Ct. 594, 595, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972) (technical deficiencies in pro se pleadings more readily overlooked than similar deficiencies in papers prepared by a lawyer); Rabin v. Cohen, 570 F.2d 864, 866 (9th Cir. 1978); Yanow v. Weyerhaeuser Steamship Co., 274 F.2d 274, 283 (9th Cir. 1959) cert. denied, 362 U.S. 919, 80 S.Ct. 671, 4 L.Ed.2d 739 (1960) (appeals that give proper notice are generally allowed even though improperly labeled or filed in the wrong court).
The district court did neither. Instead, the district judge’s clerk proposed in a memorandum to the judge that Wilson’s request be “placed in the file and ignored until the time of trial.” The judge approved this plan by noting “OK” in the margin of the clerk’s memorandum. Subsequently, the clerk sent a copy of his memorandum to Wilson’s appointed counsel with a note that explained, “see attached so that you will know what the plan is.” As a result of this scheme, appellant’s request to represent himself was not reviewed until the day of trial. By their actions, the court and Wilson’s appointed counsel willfully and knowingly deprived the defendant of an opportunity to prepare his own defense in advance of trial. This extraordinary and inappropriate conduct, alone, is reason enough for reversal. Despite the majority’s effort to dismiss the conduct as “a busy calendar clerk’s hand in an attempt at calendar control for a very busy District Court,” Maj. op. at 1273, it evinces a callous disregard for appellant’s rights and constitutes an abuse of discretion on the part of the court. See Fed.R.Crim.P. 12(e).1 On the day of his trial, with potential jurors already in the courtroom, the judge offered Wilson the choice of conducting his own trial, or proceeding with counsel, but with an opportunity to question witnesses himself. Wilson chose to proceed with counsel because he had not had an opportunity to prepare his own defense.
The sixth amendment and 28 U.S.C. § 1654 (1976) guarantee a defendant the right to represent himself in federal court. Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 813, 818, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 2530, 2532-2533, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975); Bittaker v. Enomoto, 587 F.2d 400, 402 (9th Cir. 1978) cert. denied, 441 U.S. 913, 99 S.Ct. 2013, 60 L.Ed.2d 386 (1979). This right cannot be denied because a defendant lacks expertise or professional capabilities. United States v. Trapnell, 512 F.2d 10, 11 (9th Cir. 1975). Contrary to what the majority suggests,2 a defendant *1278need not show prejudice in order to prevail on a claim that his self-representation rights have been denied, Bittaker, 587 F.2d at 402-03; see also United States v. Price, 474 F.2d 1223, 1227 (9th Cir. 1973).3
The majority agrees that due process requires that a prisoner representing himself must have meaningful access to the court. It further correctly states that “providing access to law libraries is but one of a number of constitutionally desirable means of achieving that objective.” Maj. op. at 1271. However, the majority’s conclusion that “[t]he offer of court-appointed counsel to represent Wilson satisfied the Fifth Amendment obligation to provide meaningful access to the courts” is mistaken. The statement completely ignores the constitutionally significant distinction between counsel appointed to represent a defendant and counsel appointed to advise a defendant representing himself. Only the latter affords a pro se defendant a source of meaningful access to the court. The former is both logically and practically incompatible with self-representation and hence cannot afford a pro se litigant meaningful access.
The majority relies on Bounds v. Smith, 430 U.S. 817, 830, 97 S.Ct. 1491, 1499, 52 L.Ed.2d 72 (1977), and Storseth v. Spellman, 654 F.2d 1349 (9th Cir. 1981), to support the proposition that providing a prisoner with legal representation satisfies the meaningful access guarantee even when the prisoner elects to proceed pro se. This reliance is misplaced. Bounds dealt with the standard of access that must be provided to all inmates, not those who elect to exercise their right to self-representation. Moreover, the opinion notes that “additional measures” besides legal representation may be required “to assure meaningful access to inmates able to present their own cases.” 430 U.S. at 824, 97 S.Ct. at 1496. Thus, Bounds did not hold that giving prisoners the option of representation by a lawyer is an alternative sufficient to insure them “meaningful access.” See 430 U.S. at 824 n. 11, 97 S.Ct. at 1496 n. 11. Storseth is inapposite, because it dealt with the access rights of a prisoner who insisted not on pro se representation but on representation by a specific fellow inmate. 654 F.2d at 1354.
Meaningful access for the pro se litigant involves, at a minimum, some time to prepare and some means of getting prepared for trial. Wilson had absolutely no time to prepare. Appointed counsel’s preparation to conduct the trial is not the equivalent of Wilson getting himself prepared. Had Wilson known he could represent himself, he could have asked the appointed lawyer to get books for him, gather information, or give advice on trial procedure in aid of Wilson’s defense of himself. Wilson could have prepared himself with this aid. Or he could have scorned the lawyer and taken whatever other means were available to him to get ready. The court could even have withdrawn the appointment of advisory counsel, provided Wilson was given reasonable time and some reasonable way of preparing himself for trial — for example, through aid of a jail-house lawyer, or through access to books from the library. Meaningful access can be by any of several routes. None was afforded here.
The majority’s response to Wilson’s denial of meaningful access claim is wholly inade*1279quate. It states that, prior to trial, “[Wilson] never requested that his court appointed attorney or anyone else perform research for him.” Maj. op. at 1272. Wilson’s failure to make such a request is hardly surprising in view of the fact that he had been informed in no uncertain terms that he could not represent himself and prepare his own defense but instead was required to accept the representation of appointed counsel. I conclude that he did all that could be reasonably expected under the circumstances.
Finally, the majority notes:
Even when the district court indicated on the day of the trial that Wilson would be permitted to represent himself, he did not ask for a continuance so that he or anyone else could perform the research.
Maj. op. at 1272. This statement puts the shoe on the wrong foot. The result of the court’s misconduct was to thwart Wilson’s constitutional and statutory right to represent himself and to deny him a meaningful opportunity to exercise this right. In the light of the district court’s conduct, it is unseemly for this court to fault Wilson for failing to take the proper procedural step by requesting a continuance on the day of his trial.
The majority’s conclusion, “[o]n this record, we cannot say that Wilson was deprived of all avenues of meaningful access to the court,” maj. op. at 1272, is simply wrong. Wilson was indeed denied meaningful access. He was given no time to prepare and was not offered advisory counsel or any other means of preparing his own defense, despite repeated and unequivocal requests to represent himself. I would reverse Wilson’s conviction and remand the case to the district court.

. Fed.R.Crim.P. 12(e) provides:
Ruling on Motion.
A motion made before trial shall be determined before trial unless the court, for good cause, orders that it be deferred for determination at the trial of the general issue or until after verdict, but no such determination shall be deferred if a party’s right to appeal is adversely affected. Where factual issues are involved in determining a motion, the court shall state its essential findings on the record.

. The majority states that while it does not “condone” the collaboration between court and defense counsel that resulted in the denial of Wilson’s right to self-representation, reversal is not required because there was no “resulting prejudice” to the defendant. Maj. op. at 1273. This statement represents an erroneous interpretation of settled law. We have previously observed that requiring a showing of prejudice “could make the right to conduct one’s own defense virtually unenforceable on appeal in the majority of cases.” Bittaker, 587 F.2d at *1278402. Other circuits are in accord. See, e.g., Chapman v. United States, 553 F.2d 886, 891 (5th Cir. 1977); United States v. Dougherty, 473 F.2d 1113, 1127-28 (D.C.Cir.1972).

. A defendant, of course, waives his right to counsel if he chooses to represent himself, and, conversely, once he has chosen to represent himself, a return to representation by counsel must be accompanied by a voluntary waiver of the defendant’s self-representation rights. “The very essence of a voluntary waiver is that it be the product of a free and meaningful choice.” McKee v. Harris, 649 F.2d 927, 931 (2d Cir. 1981), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 917, 102 S.ct. 1773, 72 L.Ed.2d 177 (1982). Wilson’s decision to accept appointed counsel did not involve such a meaningful choice. He was never allowed to think that he might be able to represent himself until the day of his trial. At that point he was given a choice between representing himself unprepared or proceeding with counsel. The court’s offer to allow Wilson to have counsel but to question witnesses and comment does not cure the defect in the choice he faced. Thus, the majority does not, and could not, argue that Wilson voluntarily waived his right to represent himself.