Facts and Procedural History[3] On September 15, 2015, Lacy Patton ("Patton") and his friend Arles Slaven ("Slaven") went to a home on Douglas Road in St. Joseph County, Indiana. The home was known as a drug house, and Patton and Slaven went there to locate Haeli Stevenson ("Stevenson"), the mother of Patton's infant son. Stevenson had gone to the house with her baby so that she could buy marijuana from Tristan Gill ("Gill"), who lived at the home. Also at the home was the defendant, Golden, who was Gill's cousin.
[4] Stevenson saw Patton and Slaven coming toward the home and warned Gill before trying to leave. Before she could leave, Stevenson ran into Patton. Patton saw Stevenson breastfeeding their child while smoking, and the two began to argue. Gill became involved, and he and Patton began to fight, with Patton punching Gill. Golden then asked Gill for his gun. Shortly thereafter, Patton heard Slaven say, "put the gun down, punk, put the gun down." Trial Tr. pp. 396-97. Patton ran to the room where Slaven was and saw Golden pointing the gun at Slaven. Golden then alternated pointing the gun at Slaven and Patton, which Patton described as if Golden were playing "eenie meenie miney mo." Id. at 397.
[5] Patton then ran back to Stevenson to tell her that Golden had a gun. After Patton left the room, Golden shot Slaven, who died as a result of his injuries. After the gunshot, Gill, who had witnessed the shooting, was asked by the owner of the home what had happened. Gill told him, "a murder just happened." Trial Tr. p. 387.
[6] On September 18, 2015, the State charged Golden with murder and attempted murder. At a pretrial hearing on October 6, 2015, Golden informed the trial court that he wished to represent himself. The trial court then engaged in an extensive colloquy with Golden regarding the dangers of self-representation:
[Golden]: I will be representing myself.
[Court]: Okay. Has anybody talked to you about that and told you what the law is, concerning that?
[Golden]: (indicates negatively)
[Court]: Well, I want to make sure you understand, you have the right to be represented by an attorney.
[Golden]: Right.
[Court]: You have the right to hire your own lawyer, if you want to.
If I find that you're indigent under the law, I can appoint a public defender for you at no cost.
You also have the right to represent yourself.
[Golden]: Right.
[Court]: Although I strongly recommend against that. And the reason for that is, I can't give you any help, okay?
I can't give you any advice, I can't tell you what to do, I can't tell you what not to do.
[Golden]: Right.
[Court]: And you are held to the same standard as a lawyer.
[Golden]: Right.
[Court]: So you can't, for instance, go to trial, be ineffective, get yourself convicted, then later on say you were ineffective, because the issue is gone.
[Golden]: Right.
[Court]: And these advisements that I'm going to go through here with you. . . well, I'll just read this, because I'm going to ask you to sign this.
It says: I've been accused of a crime and have a copy of the charges. The judge has told me the nature of the charges and there may be lesser included offenses, defenses or mitigating circumstances about which I should know.
I know I have the right to a lawyer and the right to be my own lawyer.
The judge has warned me that that it's dangerous and almost always unwise to be my own lawyer, because I'll be held to the same standards of law and procedure as a lawyer and I will not get special treatment from the Court.
The judge has warned me that I may hurt my own case, and the State has an experienced lawyer.
The judge has warned me that a lawyer has skills and expertise in preparing for and conducting a criminal defense that I do not have, and that a lawyer will be better able to:
Number one, investigate and question witnesses, gather appropriate documentary evidence, obtain favorable defense witnesses, prepare and file pretrial motions, prepare appropriate written jury instructions, prepare opening and closingstatements, examine and cross-examine witnesses at trial, and recognize objectionable prejudicial evidence and testimony, and make proper objections to it.
Do you understand all those things?
[Golden]: Yes, sir.
[Court]: How far did you go in school?
[Golden]: To the 12th.
[Court]: So 12 years of education; is that correct?
[Golden]: Yes, sir.
[Court]: Have you ever been . . . have you ever seen a psychiatrist or psychologist for anything?
[Golden]: No.
[Court]: You understand the rules of evidence and procedure?
[Golden]: Yes, sir.
[Court]: Okay, how do you know that?
[Golden]: I just know. I follow what I've learned.
[Court]: And you understand the English language; is that correct?
[Golden]: Yes, sir.
[Court]: Now that I've given you these warnings, but I'm telling you that it's your choice.
[Golden]: Yes, sir.
[Court]: It's my advice to you that you hire a lawyer, but it's your choice. That you either hire a lawyer or you ask for a public defender and be represented by someone that's done this sort of stuff before.
But you understand that it's your choice?
[Golden]: Yes, sir.
[Court]: Do you still wish to represent yourself?
[Golden]: Yes, sir.
[Court]: Is that your free and voluntary decision, is that what you want to do?
Do you feel that's the best course in proceeding?
[Golden]: Yes, sir.
Pretrial Tr. pp. 3-7.
[7] Golden then asserted his right to a speedy trial, which caused the court to warn him that a speedy trial might be helpful, but also might put pressure on him to get his case together in a short period. The court repeated its warning regarding self-representation, to which Golden responded, "I know what I'm doing." Pretrial Tr. p. 9. The trial court then set a trial date of December 14, 2015.
[8] At another pretrial hearing held on October 27, 2015, Golden reasserted his right to self-representation, yet he also informed the trial court that he needed time to hire private counsel. At the subsequent November 5, 2015 hearing, Golden informed the trial court that he had been unable to retain private counsel. The trial court then appointed a public defender, Mark Lenyo, to represent Golden. At the next pretrial hearing on November 9, 2015, Golden's appointed public defender indicated that he could not prepare for Golden's trial in time for the December 14 trial date. The following exchange then occurred:
[Golden]: This ain't even my lawyer, Your Honor.
[Court]: Well, he can be your lawyer and is your lawyer.
[Golden]: I've asked for a speedy trial.
[Court]: Well, you have a right to a speedy trial at a time when your lawyer can be prepared.
[Golden]: I don't want him as my lawyer then.
[Court]: You don't get any other lawyer.
[Golden]: Oh, well.
[Court]: You want to continue to represent yourself?
[Golden]: Yes, sir.
[Court]: Okay, Mr. Golden will represent himself, pro se. . . . Against my advice.
Pretrial Tr. pp. 19-20.
[9] The following day, the trial court brought the parties back into court to discuss the matter further. The court noted that requiring the public defender to prepare for the speedy trial date of December 14 "puts him kinda behind the eight-ball." Pretrial Tr. p. 24. The trial court therefore wanted to ensure that Golden understood that he had "an absolute right to represent" himself. Id. at 25. Golden indicated that he understood. The trial court further informed Golden:
And you understand that, you have an absolute right to be represented by an attorney.
And as I said to you before when you made the original waiver, I always suggest that a defendant in any criminal case, whether in custody or not in custody, that they get a lawyer. Because a lawyer has certain skills and training and knows the law and knows what to do, particularly in a complicated case.
And more importantly, when you are in custody you don't have the ability to do the kinds of things a lawyer would do, because you're in custody.
And I want to make sure . . . I won't use the word scare you off, but when I was originally looking at my calendar I was talking May or something like that, but that's my mistake. Because I just initially assumed with this first appearance, that's what I would normally do in a murder case.
And so on one hand, I don't believe that I could force Mr. Lenyo to represent you, and force in effect to be incompetent as counsel, given the time frame.
I would certainly be willing to speed this trial up, you know, in more of the earlier part of next year, as opposed to April or May, if you wish to have Mr. Lenyo represent you.
But I wanted to make sure you were here and you could think about that. Because I think we would be looking probably more like mid-January or February rather than December. Because I think I could put this case--
Pretrial Tr. pp. 25-26.
[10] Golden then interrupted: "This is my problem. . . . My kid, my baby mother doesn't want him. So I'm the only one that can take care of the baby. I want to go through this while this trial is...
