State v. Ayala

Appellant (defendant) was convicted in the First Circuit Court, after a jury trial, of burglary in the second degree. He retained two attorneys who represented him on the trial. They filed a motion for a new trial which, after hearing thereon, was denied. Defendant was sentenced to the maximum term and while in prison sent a letter to the trial judge voicing his dissatisfaction with the conviction and intimating that he wanted to appeal. In another letter in the file the defendant indicated that his attorneys were retained only for the trial. The court treated the first letter as an…