James Brown v. Christopher Artuz

JON O. NEWMAN, Circuit Judge:

This appeal presents several issues concerning a criminal defendant’s constitutional right to testify at his trial, issues that arise in a ease where a defendant does not testify. The specific issues are (1) whether the decision to testify is ultimately for the defendant or for trial counsel to make; (2) if the right to testify is “personal” to the defendant in the sense that only the defendant may validly relinquish it, whether an obligation to advise the defendant concerning the right to testify rests with either the trial judge or defense counsel; and (3) if…