United States Second Circuit

Defendant's conviction and sentence, following his mid-trial guilty plea, for possession with intent to distribute methylenedioxymethamphetamine are affirmed, where: 1) the district court acted well within its discretion when it declined to order a competency hearing before accepting defendant's guilty plea; 2) upon consideration of the whole record, defendant's post-plea behavior was not so "erratic" that it should have given the district court reason to doubt his competency; 3) the district court elevated standby counsel to full counsel only for purposes of the plea, and defendant thereafter resumed his self-representation; 4) once a defendant voluntarily and intelligently waives his right to counsel and elects to proceed pro se, the decision whether to grant or deny his post-waiver request for counsel is well within the discretion of the district court, and here the district court did not abuse its discretion; 5) defendant's sentence was procedurally sound.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/16/2014
• Published 05/16/2014

Judges

• HALL

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel