William Cruz, Appellant, v. State of Florida, Appellee. (2011)

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

William Cruz, Appellant, v. State of Florida, Appellee.

No. 3D09–1139

Decided: April 20, 2011

Before LAGOA and SALTER, JJ., and SCHWARTZ, Senior Judge.

Carlos J. Martinez, Public Defender, and Maria E. Lauredo, Assistant Public Defender, for appellant. Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, and Forrest L. Andrews, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

William Cruz appeals his conviction and sentence for attempted second degree murder. We reverse the conviction on each of two independently-sufficient grounds. First, the attempted voluntary manslaughter instruction, as given to the jury, violates the holding in State v. Montgomery, 39 So.3d 252 (Fla.2010).

Second, we find that Cruz's second demand to represent himself was unequivocally made, necessitating a Faretta ¹ hearing. Rodriguez v. State, 982 So.2d 1272 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008). Because such a hearing was not conducted before the trial court denied Cruz's demand, a reversal on this ground is also required.

Reversed and remanded.

FOOTNOTES

FN1. Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806 (1975).. FN1. Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806 (1975).

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