United States v. Guadalupe Velazquez

Concurrence by Judge KOZINSKI

OPINION

FRIEDLAND, Circuit Judge:

Guadalupe Velazquez seeks to vacate a guilty plea on the ground that she was constructively denied her right to counsel when the district court denied her motions to substitute counsel without conducting an adequate inquiry. We agree that the district court abused its discretion in denying Velazquez’s motions and thus vacate the convictions that resulted from her plea.

I. BACKGROUND

A

Guadalupe Velazquez was in her late teens and on a scholarship at Arizona State University when she began dating Hector Ortiz, Jr. At some point, Ortiz…