Criminal Practice – Waiver of Counsel – Waiver of Indictment

Defendant knowingly and voluntarily waived assistance of appointed counsel and chose to exercise his Sixth Amendment absolute right to represent himself after being appointed multiple counsels by the court.

We affirmed the judgment entered upon Defendant’s knowing and voluntary guilty pleas.

Defendant was indicted by a grand jury for felony statutory rape of a minor, first-degree kidnapping, and indecent liberties with a child in 2017. From first appearance to trial date, Defendant was provided with five court-appointed attorneys to either represent him or to serve as standby counsel. Defendant knowingly and voluntarily exercised his Sixth Amendment right to proceed pro se.

The court appointed Defendant’s former appointed counsel as standby counsel. In 2021 in open court, Defendant and the assistant district attorney both signed a bill of information charging him with the three previously indicted crimes and two additional charges for crimes against nature and sexual battery. The court had appointed Defendant four separate attorneys over the course of the litigation to represent him. Attorney Sean Ravi Ramkaransingh was appointed by the trial court as standby counsel after Defendant chose to represent himself. A fifth attorney, Daniel A. Meier, replaced Ramkaransingh as standby counsel. Defendant insisted on proceeding pro se on numerous occasions. Defendant knowingly signed a Waiver of Indictment, agreeing for the case to be tried on the information, including the two charges for crimes against nature and sexual battery not included in the original charges and indictments. His standby counsel did not sign the attorney line on the Waiver of Indictment. Defendant and the State entered into a plea agreement, wherein Defendant agreed to plead guilty only to the charges of crime against nature and sexual battery. The three original indicted charges were dismissed. Defendant was sentenced to 8-19 months’ imprisonment for crime against nature, 150 days for sexual battery, and was ordered to register as a sex offender. Defendant purportedly signed and served a copy of his Notice of Appeal on 6 July 6, 2021. The notice of appeal, however, was not filed stamped until July 15, 2021, which exceeds the 14-day period permitted under N.C. R. App. P. 4(a)(2).

Defendant argues the trial court lacked jurisdiction to enter judgments based on Defendant’s pro se guilty pleas to charges contained in a Bill of Information. He asserted his Waiver of Indictment was invalid, as he was not represented by counsel. The trial judge advised Defendant he could fully waive his right to counsel and invoke his Sixth Amendment right. Defendant knowingly chose to invoke and exercise his Sixth Amendment right to accept a beneficial plea bargain in exchange for dismissal of his three indicted charges after a four -year delay. Defendant cannot “have it both ways.” Defendant’s continued purported conflicts with court-appointed attorneys and Defendant’s knowing and eventual choice to proceed pro se delayed the trial for years. Courts and counsel cannot promote nor condone abuse of, and gamesmanship in, the appointed counsel system to allow defendants to waste scarce judicial resources, cause delays for their cases and other pending cases, increase the costs of the appointed attorney system to the taxpayers, or delay justice for the victims of crime. The trial judge also inexplicably waived imposing counsel costs and fees on Defendant for the five attorneys appointed to either represent him or serve as his standby counsel. We overruled Defendant’s argument that the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to vacate the judgments entered consistent with his plea agreement.

Presuming, without deciding, the trial court committed prejudicial error by allowing Defendant to plead guilty for the two crimes for which he waived indictment, any such error was invited by Defendant.

Affirmed.

State v. Coriante Laquelle Pierce (Lawyers’ Weekly No. 011-217-24, 11 pp.) (John Tyson, J.) Appealed from Durham County Superior Court (Orlando F. Hudson, J.) Attorney General Joshua H. Stein, by Assistant Attorney General Christine Wright, for the State; Appellate Defender’s Office, by Glenn Gerding, and Assistant Appellate Defender Michele A. Goldman, for the defendant-appellant. North Carolina Court of Appeals