State v. Verna

Defendant was indicted for kidnapping and assaulting his former wife. He was convicted, in a jury trial, for kidnapping. On appeal defendant contends the trial court erred in denying his pretrial motion to dismiss his court-appointed attorney and represent himself.

The record reflects that two attorneys appointed to represent defendant resigned prior to trial because defendant insisted on conducting his own defense and refused to cooperate with them. A third attorney was appointed and appeared at trial with defendant. On the day of trial defendant moved to dismiss this attorney and defend…