Court Opinion

ID: 9482018
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:37:53.668853+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:48:42.886499
License: Public Domain

ARNOLD, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I would affirm the judgment of the District Court for the reasons persuasively stated in that Court’s opinion. In my view, petitioner made a clear, unequivocal, and unmistakable request to be allowed to proceed as his own lawyer. The trial court just as clearly, unequivocally, and unmistakably rejected his request. This was an error of constitutional magnitude. The finding of the Iowa Court of Appeals that no real request for self-representation was made lacks fair support in the record. If words mean anything, this must be the result in this case.