James E. Burton A/K/A Ronnie Johnson v. James A. Collins, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division

KING, Circuit Judge:

Defendant James E. Burton (Burton), convicted in state court for aggravated robbery, seeks federal habeas corpus relief on the ground that he was denied the right to represent himself at trial. The district court dismissed the petition, finding that Burton had not made an unequivocal assertion of his right to self-representation. Burton filed a timely notice of appeal. The district court denied Burton a certificate of probable cause (CPC); upon application, this court granted a CPC. We affirm.

I

On October 28, 1985, Burton executed an affidavit attesting that he could not…