State v. King
| Decision Date | 12 April 2012 |
| Citation | 40 A.3d 41,210 N.J. 2 |
| Parties | STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. Marcus KING, Defendant–Appellant. |
| Court | New Jersey Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Frank J. Pugliese, Assistant Deputy Public Defender, argued the cause for appellant (Joseph E. Krakora, Public Defender, attorney).
Deborah C. Bartolomey, Deputy Attorney General, argued the cause for respondent (Jeffrey S. Chiesa, Acting Attorney General of New Jersey, attorney).
A jury convicted defendant of three counts of first-degree robbery, N.J.S.A. 2C:15–1. The trial court sentenced defendant to an aggregate term of thirty-five years in prison, subject to the parole ineligibility provisions of N.J.S.A. 2C:43–7.2. The Appellate Division affirmed defendant's convictions and sentence in an unpublished opinion. We granted certification to consider defendant's contention that the trial court improperly denied him the right to self-representation. Because our review of this record and the arguments presented by the parties convince us that defendant is correct, we reverse his convictions and remand this matter to the trial court for further proceedings.
In the early morning hours of September 25, 2002, three armed men entered a Howard Johnson hotel in North Plainfield. They assaulted the clerk who was on duty and demanded he hand over the hotel's money. When the clerk was unable to comply with their demands for access to the hotel's safe, they took the several hundred dollars in cash that was in the register and left. Approximately an hour later, three armed men entered another hotel in Bridgewater; two entered the lobby and the third proceeded to the restaurant/kitchen area. The two intruders in the lobby went to the desk clerk, and one, brandishing a knife, demanded money. The second intruder kicked the clerk and ordered him to take the men to the hotel safe and open it. As with the first hotel, the clerk surrendered the money he had but was unable to open the safe. While the first two intruders were occupied with the clerk, the third intruder held a guest at gun-point in the hotel's restaurant/kitchen area and rifled through her pockets. After their efforts to obtain access to the hotel's safe again proved fruitless, the three intruders departed. In both robberies, the robbers covered their faces and none of the victims were able to identify the perpetrators.
Defendant, together with another man, Khaleel Butts, was apprehended a week later, following a third unrelated robbery. Both Butts and defendant confessed to their involvement with the two hotel robberies and identified Saheed Nurideen as the other participant. In October 2002, together with his two cohorts, defendant was indicted for three counts of first-degree robbery, one for each of the hotel clerks and one for the guest. Defendant originally entered a negotiated plea of guilty, under which he agreed to testify against Nurideen. When he later refused to testify, his guilty plea was vacated and the matter was scheduled for trial.1
Defendant, accompanied by his attorney, appeared before the trial court shortly before the trial was scheduled to begin. His attorney informed the trial court that he had had several discussions with defendant and that defendant had informed counsel that he wished to represent himself at his trial. Defense counsel told the court that defendant's request was not unexpected, as defendant had been contemplating the issue for some time. The attorney provided the trial court with some background information with respect to defendant, noting that defendant was literate and, while he had not graduated from high school, he had completed the tenth grade. He also said that defendant had participated in two trials already and understood the judicial process.
When the prosecutor did not interpose any objection to the informal manner in which the issue was presented, the trial court proceeded to deal with the substance of the request. In response to the trial court's question, defendant told the court that he had recently been tried in Monmouth County on a similar charge and had sat through all the proceedings, including various motions that had been argued. Defendant told the trial court that he had been convicted at that trial, which resulted in the imposition of an extended sentence. The trial court then questioned defendant with respect to his knowledge of particular areas, asking, for example, if defendant knew what a statute is (defendant was unable to give an accurate response); if he knew the statutory penalties for first-degree robbery (defendant did not); and if he was familiar with the rules of evidence (defendant said he had them copied down but “couldn't tell you them offhand”).
Defendant explained he had done some reading at the law library to prepare for trial. The trial court asked what books he had read, and defendant responded that he had read a book on trial procedure; he could not recall the author but said he had the name “written down.” The colloquy continued as follows:
Q. What defenses do you have?
A. Say that again, sir.
Q. Do you have any defenses?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you look it up in any of the books to determine what kind of defenses are available to a person charged with robbery?
A. No, sir, I wasn't focused on that.
Q. Well, how are you going to defend yourself if you don't know what defenses might be available to you?
A. Because the only thing I was paying attention to was the statements I was given, the strategies I could use when I get my turn to approach the witnesses. Stuff like that. I wasn't focused on all that other stuff. I was just focused on my cross-examine.
Q. Do you think it would be helpful to you to know—have some idea what defenses might be available to a person under the penal code who is charged with robbery?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. But you didn't look those defenses up?
A. Right now I am in the process—while I am at the County Jail I am looking all that up. I had all that written down. But I wasn't aware that I was being brought to court, so I wasn't able to bring my paperwork with me.
....
Q. So are you telling me that, as you stand here today, you have no idea what the defenses to robbery might be?
A. No, sir, I don't.
Q. Well, do you think you might have some difficulty in trying this case if you don't even have an idea what your defenses might be?
A. No, sir.
Q. Huh?
A. No, sir.
Q. No?
A. No.
Q. Well, isn't that like saying I can fly a plane but I don't know what the instruments are on the instrument panel?
A. I know I am willing to go to trial with what I have, sir. With my own defense.
Q. I don't understand.
A. I am willing to go to trial with what I have prepared for myself. I can't explain it. I can't sit and explain it to you in legal terms. But I know in my terms what I am ready to do.
Q. But you have got to understand something, Mr. King. I have got to make a determination that you are in fact capable of understanding what is going on.
A. I understand fully what is going on.
The trial court indicated some unease at defendant's ability to make an informed, intelligent decision on the question of whether to represent himself at trial. It assured defendant that his attorney was a very experienced criminal trial lawyer. Defendant responded that his decision had nothing to do with that particular attorney, which prompted the trial court to ask defendant about the reasons for his decision.
Q. Tell me what it has to do with.
A. My last trial [I] went through I also had a very good experienced lawyer and I still lost and during that trial I sat there and there were certain things I wanted to ask the witness that I wasn't able to ask and my lawyer felt it wasn't appropriate to ask or he feel that it would have hurt me while I felt it would help me.
So, therefore, if I am going to lose another trial, I'd rather lose it by myself then [sic] in somebody else's hands.
Later, the colloquy resumed.
Q. .... Now you are asking me to let you go to trial and you don't have any idea what defenses might be available to you.
A. No, I don't. But I know how I am going to present my case. I know how I am going to represent myself.
Q. How are you going to do it? Tell me what you are going to do?
A. I would rather not get into that right now, sir. Then the Prosecutor is going to know what I am going to do.
Q. So you don't want to tell me about it because you think it is trial strategy. Is that right?
A. Yes, sir.
....
Q. Have you had discussions with [defense counsel] about doing this?
A. No.
Q. Do you think it would have been helpful to sit down and talk to an experienced lawyer about the difficulties you may have in representing yourself?
A. It may. But I just felt I didn't want to do it.
Q. You what?
A. I didn't want to do it.
Q. You didn't want to talk to a lawyer about it?
A. No.
Q. Any lawyer?
A. No.
In response to further questions, defendant indicated he was not familiar with the term “lesser included” and admitted he did not know what the court rules were. But he said that he was familiar with what a jury charge should encompass. Defendant also said he wanted his present attorney to act as standby counsel, a position that was satisfactory to defense counsel.
After the prosecutor and defense counsel had the opportunity to ask several questions of defendant, the trial court again tried to determine the extent to which defendant was prepared to represent himself at trial.
Q. Would you agree with me, Mr. King, that you may have some difficulty because you don't know the defenses that you might have? That would cause a problem, wouldn't it?
A. I know I am going to have difficulties. But that's, again, why I have my co-counsel whenever I need help.
Q. No. I understand that you are going to have co-counsel. But what I am asking you is whether or not you would agree with me that the fact that you do not even know, as you stand here...
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