United States v. Joshua Stafford

OPINION

ROGERS, Circuit Judge.

Following trial, Joshua Stafford was convicted of conspiring with four others to bomb a bridge near Cleveland. Stafford had a history of mental illness, but after a competency hearing the district court found him competent to stand trial. Stafford on appeal challenges the district court’s grant of his own motion, supported by his appointed counsel, to represent himself at trial. Although the district court could likely have exercised its discretion— recognized in the Supreme Court’s holding in Indiana v. Edwards, 554 U.S. 164, 128 S.Ct. 2379, 171 L.Ed.2d 345…