State v Hayes Court can remove belligerent defendants A-2534-16T1

State v. Hayes   Court can remove belligerent defendants  A-2534-16T1

    Defendant appealed from his conviction from third-degree theft and his sentence of five years' imprisonment. Defendant was arrested for the theft of a woman's handbag at an arcade in Wildwood. The victim's handbag contained her engagement and wedding rings that defendant was later observed wearing. On appeal, defendant argued that the trial court violated defendant's constitutional rights by denying the motion to relieve counsel and erred by denying defendant's right of allocution and presence at sentencing. 

The court rejected defendant's arguments and affirmed his conviction and sentence. The court noted that defendant's motions to relieve his counsel were denied after the trial court found that defendant did not understand the nature and consequences of his requests to waive counsel and would repeatedly engage in disruptive behavior in court, culminating in allegedly filing a civil lawsuit against his public defender. The court affirmed the trial court's exercise of its discretion to deny defendant's attempts to relieve his counsel, noting that the trial court was empowered to control its calendar to prevent its manipulation by defendant.

The court ruled that defendant's unserved civil lawsuit against his counsel was insufficient to establish a significant likelihood of prejudice to defendant, since counsel would have an interest in not providing substandard representation that could be used as evidence in defendant's lawsuit. The court further affirmed the trial court's decision to remove defendant from the courtroom during sentencing due to defendant's continued disruptive behavior. The court held that the right to be present in the courtroom was not absolute and that defendant's behavior waived his right to be present and to allocute during his sentencing, noting that courts were empowered to remove belligerent defendants to maintain decorum and order.unpublished

Source https://www.law.com/njlawjournal/almID/1567566624NJA253416T/