No. 24-5929

David Mark Fink v. California

Lower Court: California
Docketed: 2024-11-06
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
Response WaivedIFP
Tags: evidentiary-hearing faretta-right judicial-discretion pro-se-representation sixth-amendment speedy-trial
Key Terms:
JusticiabilityDoctri
Latest Conference: 2025-01-10
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether a trial court improperly revoked a defendant's pro se status during an evidentiary hearing and violated Sixth Amendment speedy trial rights

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

No question identified. : IMPORTANT QUESTIONS OF LAW PRESENTED During an evidentiary hearing into eavesdropping on privileged calls, "Petitioner" ("Pet.") filed written objections to the court ordering an adjournment (without notice) twice in the heat of adversarial examination (CT: 4643-44). The People represented that a paragraph blacked-out by a felt marker, contained the following disparaging remark (CT: 4734): "(T]he court in all of its wisdom, had to have known {the witness | was in deep trouble, and it it had halted the hearing, it ‘could ° allow the prosecution to coach him." This caused the court to revoke Pet.'s Faretta rights without notice, nor opportunity to be heard (without representation) (11/4/2020 Trs, 5:286:4), but forgot the offending remarks, and asked the People for a copy of their papers (containing their representation of the crossed out statement) and read the People's words into the record (Id, at 2:1-3:13) to revoke Pet.'s right of (1. The People have no standing to interject between an accused and his right of When the court permits them to do so, does it undermine Faretta by encouraging prosecutors who cannot win fairly, to win by instigating revocation, as here? . (2. Did the court err by permitting the People's representation of evidence to be the sole cause as the loss of (Carillo v. County of Los Angeles, 798 F.3d. 1210, 1220 (9th Cir. 2015)(appointing the prosecutor to act as the arbiter of relevant evidence is tantamount to "appoint[ing] the fox as henhouse guard.")). (3. Does "(t]he right to be heard before being condemned to suffer grievious loss of any kind" (Mathew v. Eldridge, 424 US 319, 323 (1976)) apply to Faretta revocation? (4. Can a deleted statement be the sole cause of the loss of the right of (5. Has the substantial Sixth Amendment right of self-representation been been reduced to a farce or a sham? eS f i . EO YN Raembiiqedviniedeo) Cosnwepemabity an aanunncssead LOA OL __ O | “aS . — ‘ wn) ts t \ OM BLO neat 25 ta SUELO ANOS Se er CNA Na Na INA SEMIS de Quod $i lla atrovent Ast sec ORRE TE ‘ sete nao . Nite

Docket Entries

2025-01-13
Petition DENIED.
2024-12-12
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/10/2025.
2024-12-06
Waiver of right of respondent California to respond filed.
2024-09-10
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due December 6, 2024)

Attorneys

California
Kenneth Charles ByrneCalifornia Attorney General, Respondent
David M. Fink
David Fink — Petitioner