Maxwell v. Superior Court

Opinion

NEWMAN, J.

One due process requirement is that an individual charged with serious crime be represented by competent and independent counsel. Another is that courts generally must not interfere with defendant’s informed conclusions as to how his defense ought to be conducted. In this lawsuit, which involves an indigent defendant accused of capital murder, those two requirements appear to conflict; and we must decide which one commands more deference.

*610The precise issue is whether the trial court erred when, notwithstanding petitioner’s protest, it recused his retained counsel and appointed…