Court Opinion

ID: 9571924
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:36:19.644539+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:31:10.512967
License: Public Domain

PAGE, Justice
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. I disagree with the court’s conclusion that the trial court here did not abuse its discretion when it rescinded its order granting Christian’s self-representation motion. In reaching *195this conclusion, the court has answered the wrong question. The relevant question to be answered is whether, having granted Christian the right to represent himself, the trial court abused its discretion when it rescinded the order granting that right without finding that Christian had deliberately “engaged in serious and obstructionist misconduct.” See Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 834 n. 46, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975); Minn. R.Crim. P. 5.02, subd. 2 (stating that the court may give advisory counsel full control over case if “(a) the defendant becomes so disruptive during the proceedings that such conduct is determined to constitute a waiver of the right of self representation or (b) the defendant requests advisory counsel to take over representation during the proceeding”).
Recognizing that the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees criminal defendants the right to an attorney, the United States Supreme Court held in Faretta that: “The Sixth Amendment does not provide merely that a defense shall be made for the accused; it grants to the accused personally the right to make his defense. * * * The right to defend is given directly to the accused; for it is he who suffers the consequences if the defense fails.” Faretta, 422 U.S. at 819-20, 95 S.Ct. 2525. When deciding whether to grant a self-representation request, trial courts are required to determine (1) whether the request is clear, unequivocal, and timely and (2) whether the defendant knowingly and intelligently waives his right to counsel. Id. at 835, 95 S.Ct. 2525. If the trial court so finds, the right to self-representation must be granted.
The court dismisses the trial court’s initial order on the basis that Christian was granted pro se status because the trial court “mistakenly assumed that appellant had an ‘absolute right to proceed pro se.’ ” Under Faretta, the defendant does have an absolute right to proceed pro se as long as the court determines that the defendant’s request is knowing, voluntary, unequivocally asserted, and timely. From the record, there is no indication that the trial court did not consider and apply the Faret-ta factors in granting Christian the right to proceed pro se. Therefore, we cannot ignore the trial court’s initial order. Once granted, irrespective of whether the trial court later reconsiders granting pro se status, Faretta clearly states that the right to proceed pro se cannot be revoked unless the defendant engages in serious obstructionist behavior.
Christian’s trial, joined with those of his brother, David Christian, and Vernon Powers, commenced on May 14, 2001. On Friday, May 18, during the fourth day of jury selection, Christian asked the trial court for a continuance so that he could find a private attorney to represent him. Initially, the trial court indicated that it would not grant the continuance based on its conclusion that Christian’s public defenders appeared to be providing competent representation. The trial court went on to tell Christian:
[Y]ou do have the option of representing yourself, since you apparently brought that to the court’s attention. If you are serious about that, you should very definitely discuss it with your present counsel; or, if it becomes necessary, I will ask that the Third District appoint counsel for you to have the same discussion that they had with Mr. Vernon Powers.1
*196After further discussion, the trial court asked Christian to state whether he wanted to represent himself. Christian responded that he was asking for a continuance to Monday, May 21, so that he could seek new counsel. Ultimately, the trial court granted Christian a continuance to May 21.
When trial reconvened on the 21st, Christian, having failed to find a private attorney to represent him, sought a further continuance. The trial court denied Christian’s request and then considered whether Christian would be permitted to proceed pro se. The trial court warned Christian that if at any point the trial court determined that the purpose of Christian’s request to proceed pro se was to delay or disrupt the trial or for the sole purpose of having his trial severed, the trial court would simply reappoint his trial counsel. The trial court then proceeded to question Christian extensively regarding his knowledge of the proceedings, the charges alleged against him, the defenses he would be able to raise, and the ramifications of his decision to proceed pro se.2 Christian answered the trial court’s questions, generally showing an understanding of the law and legal terms. When questioned if he was willing to risk proceeding pro se, Christian replied that he felt he had no choice under the circumstances. To ensure that Christian’s decision was informed, the trial court ordered a 15-minute recess to give Christian time to consult with his counsel. Upon returning, Christian explicitly stated that he wanted to proceed pro se. At that time, the state responded by stating, “Your Honor, [the] State believes that the Court made the correct inquiries of Mr. Christian to determine whether he was making a knowing, voluntary, intelligent waiver of his right to counsel in this case to proceed pro se. * * * The State is satisfied with the inquiry of the Court.” For the record, the trial court also noted that Christian had the opportunity to meet and confer with Joseph Buel-tel, the Chief Public Defender for the Third District, in addition to his two appointed counsel before deciding to assert his right to proceed pro se. The trial court concluded that Christian knowingly and intelligently waived his right to counsel and permitted him to proceed pro se. In doing so, the trial court made clear to Christian that he would not be allowed to represent himself if he became disruptive or if he specifically elected to re-retain his court-appointed counsel. The trial court then discharged Christian’s court-appointed counsel and immediately reappointed them as standby counsel.
Right after Christian was granted the right to proceed pro se, Mr. Yoss, the attorney for David Christian, brought a motion to sever Christian’s trial from the two represented defendants, citing Christian’s lack of legal experience and the serious nature of the charges. The trial court denied Voss’s motion, but indicated that the motion could be remade at any time during the trial if Christian’s self-representation resulted in substantial prejudice to the other defendants. Mr. Voss then requested a three-day continuance so that Christian could have time to review materials on how to conduct voir dire. When questioned why Voss was arguing on Christian’s behalf, Voss indicated that he was representing the interest of his client, David Christian, and was concerned about the effect a pro se defendant would have on his client. The request was denied.
During the course of these discussions, Christian submitted a number of written *197motions. Those motions included a motion that trial and research materials be made available to him and that he have access to a telephone for purposes of his self-representation, that he have access to a law library, that he receive certain discovery, that he be permitted to retain an expert, and that his trial be severed from the other defendants. The trial court addressed each one of these motions in turn, granting some and denying others, including the severance motion. In discussing Christian’s severance motion, the trial court specifically asked if Christian’s request to proceed pro se was at all related to his request for severance. Christian responded equivocally, but noted that he did not want to prejudice his codefendants. The state did not respond at that time to Christian’s statements and, ultimately denying the motion, the trial court treated Christian’s motion for severance much like severance motions that had been made previously by Christian’s codefendants. The trial court then addressed issues relating to a possible mistrial based on the trial court’s refusal to allow Christian to begin the jury selection process anew, along with questions of how Christian would be able to examine witnesses and present evidence while in leg restraints.
After the trial court completed its review of Christian’s motions, Voss renewed his request for a continuance until Thursday, May 24, 2001. The trial court agreed to continue the proceedings, but only until 1:30 the next afternoon. The trial court also requested that the parties be prepared to argue whether the trials should be severed and specifically requested that counsel examine whether reappointing counsel for Christian during the middle of trial would affect the trial’s “fundamental fairness.”
At the hearing the next afternoon, May 22, each of the defendants made motions to sever their trials on the basis that having a pro se defendant could potentially prejudice the trials of the two represented defendants. Voss addressed the trial court first, noting that, although there is no presumption in favor of severance in multi-defendant cases when one of the defendants proceeds pro se, he was requesting severance because he was concerned that Christian might engage in disruptive behavior that would negatively impact his client’s right to a fair trial. In his argument, Voss specifically noted that he was not concerned that Christian had been granted the right to proceed pro se. The state then proceeded to argue not whether the trials should have been severed, but rather whether Christian’s request to proceed pro se should have been granted at all. After hearing the arguments for both represented defendants, the following colloquy took place:
THE COURT: Mr. Scot Christian.
CHRISTIAN: I would just like in response to Mr. Orput’s letter, that I just received a few minutes ago, that I am playing games, I brought to the Court’s attention a while back about my dissatisfaction about my counsel, which at this time brought me to the decision, given my ultimatum, as I look at as either go pro se or continue with my previous counsel is a decision I have. I decided to go pro se.
THE COURT: Mr. Christian, we are talking about the issue of severance right now. Please confine yourself to that issue.
CHRISTIAN: And I just ask that my motion for severance was based on not prejudicing the other defendants. Anything I do in the court should reflect on me. And if I was severed out that’s what could happen. And that was my purpose for the motion to give these gentleman a fair trial and myself, too.
*198THE COURT: One question, Mr. Christian. Presuming that the Court severed the other two defendants, you would be the first one to go forward and we would proceed this afternoon. Are you ready to do so?
CHRISTIAN: If I have to, I have to.
THE COURT: Are you ready to do so? Are you ready to question jurors? Are you ready to make an opening statement? Are you prepared to defend yourself knowing that there will be no other attorneys representing your interests?
CHRISTIAN: No, I’m not.
THE COURT: Or any combined interest?
CHRISTIAN: No, I am not.3
THE COURT: Very well, The Court will make an additional record at this point in time. First of all, do you have anything else that you wish to say on this particular issue, Mr. Christian?
CHRISTIAN: On the severance issue?
THE COURT: Yes.
CHRISTIAN: I just asked to be severed out.
THE COURT: Mr. Rank or Mr. Or-put?
MR. ORPUT: I would like to respond on behalf of the prosecution. We actually find ourselves in agreement with Mr. Voss and Mr. Swenson,4 not necessarily the severance issue, but on the issue that I think precedes that and that’s whether the defendant Scott Christian can go pro se. I think that is what triggered the whole argument about severance. And we agree with both counsel. They made their point — both attorneys — quite eloquently for the State and, in fact, I did hand the Court, as Mr. Swenson was speaking, the Walker case. And we would ask the Court right now preliminary to reconsider the defendant’s motion for pro se, as we have serious concerns about his ability, just like counsel do. We think, frankly— especially now that Mr. Voss advised Court that all it would take is for Scot Christian to act up in court he has pretty thoroughly advised of how he can get a mistrial. And that’s a concern of ours, as well. We have already got a week invested into this case. It may take another week, it may take two. There are no guarantees that Scot Christian won’t inadvertently or with intent cause a mistrial. That’s why we would ask you at first to reconsider his motion for pro se status. I think he made it clear himself, he is not prepared.
After further arguments from counsel, the trial court decided to rescind the order permitting Christian to proceed pro se. In doing so, the trial court noted that Christian’s dissatisfaction with his counsel over trial strategy might well have been the subject of an absolute right to proceed pro se had it been brought to the trial court’s attention earlier, but that now it appeared that Christian’s request was merely to delay the trial.5 Specifically, the trial court *199cited the following facts to support its decision: (1) Christian’s “[y]es and no” statement admitting to some connection between his self-representation request and his severance motions; (2) his statement that he was not ready to begin trial proceedings immediately; (3) the late date of Christian’s motion; (4) Christian’s escape from jail; and (5) the written motions Christian had filed seeking a continuance and severance and/or mistrial, which the trial court found were “substantial evidence of the intent” to request self-representation for the purposes of delay.
None of these facts support a finding that Christian was engaged in “serious and obstructionist misconduct,” as required by Faretta, to justify the rescission of his right to proceed pro se. See 422 U.S. at 834 n. 46, 95 S.Ct. 2525. At the outset, it must be noted that Christian’s motivation for seeking self-representation is not an appropriate basis upon which to revoke his request to represent himself, since the right to defend oneself is a personal right that is not to be questioned by the court if the court determines that the request is timely, not for the purpose of delay, and knowingly and intelligently asserted. See id. at 834, 95 S.Ct. 2525 (noting that because it is the defendant and not his attorneys or the state who will bear the consequence of a conviction it is the defendant “who must be free personally to decide whether in his particular case counsel is to his advantage”). Clearly, before initially permitting Christian to represent himself, the trial court had to have reached the conclusion that Christian’s request was timely, not made for the purpose of delay, and knowingly and voluntarily asserted. If, in fact, the trial court believed that Christian’s motion was made for purposes of delay, his right to self-representation should have been denied in the first instance. Having granted the motion, to the extent it concluded based on Christian’s written motions that Christian’s purpose was to delay the proceeding, the remedy was to deny the motions, not revoke his right to self-representation.
Nor is the fact that Christian stated that he was not ready to proceed to trial a basis for revoking his right to self-representation. The right to self-representation includes the right to conduct one’s defense to one’s own detriment. Id.; United States v. Flewitt, 874 F.2d 669, 674 (9th Cir.1989) (reversing a trial court decision to revoke pro se status because the defendants refused to prepare for trial). The Court in Faretta, although recognizing that the state had a strong argument that the help of counsel is essential to assure a defendant a fair trial, dismissed this argument because it would permit the state to impermissibly impose counsel on an unwilling defendant. 422 U.S. at 832-33, 95 S.Ct. 2525. Rather than forcing counsel on a defendant, the Court made clear that a defendant’s choice to represent himself must “be honored out of ‘that respect for the individual which is the lifeblood of law.’ ” Id. at 834, 95 S.Ct. 2525 (citation omitted). As long as Christian was complying with relevant substantive and procedural rules and was not being disruptive, the trial court’s revocation of his right to represent himself resulted in counsel being impermissibly forced on Christian. There is no indication from the record that Christian was not complying with relevant substantive and procedural rules. Being prepared is not a substantive or procedural requirement and there is no evidence to suggest that Christian was engaging in serious obstructionist behavior. In revoking Christian’s ability to represent himself, the trial court did nothing more than force Christian to accept counsel against his will, an action prohibited by Faretta.
Similarly, the trial court’s third and fourth reasons, the purported late date of *200Christian’s motion and Christian’s escape from jail, were not appropriate reasons for revoking Christian’s right of self-representation. With respect to the purported late date, that fact might be relevant if it was clear that it was Christian, and not the trial court, who during voir dire first raised the possibility of proceeding pro se and if the trial court had not already granted Christian the right to represent himself. Obviously, the date of Christian’s motion was a known and presumably considered fact when the trial court initially allowed Christian to proceed pro se. If the trial court believed that the request to proceed pro se was untimely, the trial court would not have raised the possibility of proceeding pro se, nor would it have granted Christian the right to do so. Like the purported late date, Christian’s escape from jail was also known and presumably considered before he was granted the right to self-representation.
Finally, the trial court relies on Christian’s motions for a continuance, severance, and/or a mistrial as evidence that his motion to proceed pro se was a sham. However, those motions were nothing more than Christian’s attempt to represent himself within the relevant substantive and procedural rules. As noted above, in bringing these motions he was neither disruptive nor disrespectful to the trial court. Thus, his right to self-representation should not have been revoked simply because he sought to represent himself. These motions were just three of a number of substantive motions that Christian presented to the trial court. Indeed, the underlying substance of his severance motion was no different than the motions submitted by his codefendants’ counsel. Christian argued all of the motions and the trial court granted some and denied others, including the motions for severance and/or mistrial and for a continuance. The trial court considered these motions as legitimate at the time they were submitted and did not warn Christian that he was doing anything improper or incorrect. The fact that the trial court did consider all of these motions suggests that the trial court’s subsequent reliance on submission of the continuance, severance, and mistrial motions as a basis for revoking Christian’s right to self-representation was pretextual.
From the record, it appears that what the trial court was really concerned about was, in the context of joined trials, the possibility that Christian’s self-representation might affect the other defendants’ right to a fair trial. Presumably, one concern was that Christian would do something to disrupt the trial, either intentionally or unintentionally, at some later point. However, as the Court clearly stated in Faretta, the possibility that a criminal defendant representing himself might use the courtroom to deliberately disrupt their trial does not justify the preemptive denial of the right to self-representation. The appropriate remedy for the “possibility” that Christian might engage in disruptive behavior is the termination of the defendant’s self-representation only once such behavior has occurred. Faretta, 422 U.S. at 834 n. 46, 95 S.Ct. 2525. If we permit courts to disallow self-representation in joined criminal trials merely on the possibility that the pro se defendant will engage in disruptive behavior, the defendant’s inherent right to self-representation will be lost in the name of efficiency. A defendant’s right to self-representation should not fall waste to the desire to maintain joined trials. If the trial court was so concerned about Christian’s possible behavior, the trials could have been severed. By revoking Christian’s right to represent himself solely on the possibility *201that he would be disruptive,6 this trial court did exactly what the Court in Faret-ta explicitly stated a court should not do. At the time the trial court granted Christian the right of self-representation, the state, his codefendants, and the trial court understood that Christian had knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to counsel, that it was timely, and not for the purposes of delay. It was only when subsequently faced with the complicated problem of whether having one pro se defendant required severance of the three joined trials that the trial court revoked the right. Taking the easy way out by revoking Christian’s right to represent himself was an impermissible solution to this problem. On these facts, the trial court, having once granted Christian the right to represent himself, abused its discretion when it subsequently revoked that right.
Therefore, I dissent.
BLATZ, Chief Justice
(dissenting).
I join in the dissent of Justice Page.
ANDERSON, Paul H., Justice
(dissenting).
I join in the dissent of Justice Page.

. While the trial court indicated that Christian "apparently brought [his right to proceed pro se] to the court's attention,” it is not at all clear from the record that he did so. The record suggests that the trial court may have raised the issue in the first instance. Notwithstanding this lack of clarity when discuss*196ing this issue, I will, for ease of discussion, refer to Christian's self-representation motion.

. These questions continued over nine pages of transcript.

. This response is not surprising given the complexity of the trial and the fact that Christian had less than 24 hours to prepare.

. It is important to note that at this point Orput is mischaracterizing what Voss argued. It is quite clear from the record that Voss never stated or implied that Christian should not have been granted the right to proceed pro se. Rather, Voss argued that once Christian became a pro se defendant his trial needed to be severed from the other defendants.

.Christian first voiced his dissatisfaction with trial counsel on January 13, 2001, and so it is unclear to me how the trial court could find that Christian's assertion of his right of self-representation was for the purposes of delay.

. It should not go unstated that, to the extent the trial court’s reason for revoking Christian’s self-representation was that Christian, representing himself pro se, might intentionally act out in ways that would compromise the other defendants' rights, the potential for that conduct existed whether Christian was represented by counsel or proceeded pro se.