In addition to contributing to this blog, I publish summaries of N.C. appellate court and U.S. Supreme Court decisions through my Criminal Law Listserv (you can sign up for those emails here). That job involves reading a lot of cases and probably explains why my eyeglass prescription has been getting steadily stronger. But a side benefit of all of that case reading is that it helps me spot recurring issues. One that keeps appearing in the appellate decisions is improper waivers of the right to counsel. About a year ago, I wrote a post here on how to take a waiver of counsel. A recent case suggests an update is in order. In State v. Frederick, the N.C. Court of Appeals held that the defendant was denied his right to counsel when the trial court allowed him to proceed pro se at a suppression hearing. The appellate court quickly concluded that a suppression hearing was a critical stage of the criminal trial for which the defendant was entitled to counsel. It then went on to address whether the defendant previously had waived his right to counsel. The defendant contended that any prior waivers shown in the record were invalid because the trial court failed to inform him of the maximum possible sentence associated with the charged crime, as required by G.S. 15A-1242. That statute requires, in part, that the trial judge make a “thorough inquiry” and “is satisfied that the defendant . . . . [c]omprehends the nature of the charges [...]
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