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Wiggins v. State

The trial court denied the defendant his constitutional right to self-representation when, after the defendant unequivocally asserted the right, the trial court proceeded to trial, leaving counsel in the case, without holding a Faretta hearing.

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Following a bench trial, appellant Ulysses Wiggins was found guilty of the malice murder and felony murder of Catherine Walker, the aggravated assaults of Valorice Caples and Carolyn Senior, and other related crimes. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole plus an additional 25 years in prison.1 Because we conclude the trial court erred by failing to hold a hearing to determine whether appellant’s request to proceed pro se was knowingly and intelligently made, we reverse his convictions.

1. The evidence presented at trial authorized the trial court to find that appellant had been living with Caples and her nephew, Octavious Short, for several years. The day before the crimes, Caples moved out of their shared apartment because of appellant’s abusive behavior. On the day of the crimes, as Caples was getting into a car with Senior, appellant grabbed Caples and pulled her out of the car. Appellant, Caples, and Senior then argued on the street until Short and others intervened. Several teens who helped break up the altercation then chased appellant back to his apartment where he retrieved a gun and started shooting. Soon thereafter, appellant confronted Caples again, threatening to kill her, but this altercation, like the first, was broken up. As Caples and Senior retreated to safety, appellant continued to run around the apartment complex, eventually encountering Walker, whom he fatally shot as she stood outside her apartment.

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