Free Republic

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, April 27, 2006 – The chief prosecutor for military commissions here today reaffirmed that the prosecution believes detainees should have the right to self-representation. The prosecution supported defense lawyers when they sought self-representation for a detainee in 2004, and the prosecution still supports the defense's attempts for that right in other cases, Air Force Col. Morris Davis said at a news conference. "It's their name on the charge sheet, and I think they ought to have the right," Davis said of the detainees. Self-representation has been an issue in many of the commissions cases since...

Wiccan beliefs and sexual preferences will take center stage in the trial of a North Carolina man accused of killing his wife, unless the defendant has his way before the start of his trial on Halloween. ADVERTISEMENT Earlier this week, Robert James Petrick asked a Durham County Superior Court judge to keep all references to his neo-pagan religion and "sexual habits" out of his first-degree murder trial for the death of his wife, Janine Sutphen, a cellist with the Durham Symphony Orchestra, in January 2003. Judge Orlando Hudson is expected to rule on the motions before jury selection begins Monday...

04-06) 19:55 PDT Springfield, Mass. (AP) Thomas P. Budnick says his lawyer's incompetence was to blame for his assault conviction. The funny thing is he was representing himself. He took his case before the state Appeals Court on Wednesday, arguing that the trial judge never should have allowed Budnick to defend himself against charges of trying to poison a friend by lacing a bottle of beer with nitric acid. Budnick once filed mining claims on Mars and threatened to sue NASA for trespassing. Such antics should have been enough to make the judge question his competence to waive counsel, his...