An appeals panel on Tuesday vacated the robbery convictions and 20-year sentence of a man it found was improperly allowed to serve as his own attorney.

The Appellate Division, First Department, said in People v. Wells, 05884, that Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro failed to evaluate defendant Carl Wells’ capacity to represent himself, to warn him of the risks inherent in doing so, and to “apprise him of the importance of the lawyer in the adversarial system of adjudication.”