People v. Butler, No. S068230

Defendant's conviction and death sentence for the first degree murder of a fellow jail inmate, while awaiting trial for the murder of two college students, is reversed where defendant's Sixth Amendment right to represent himself at trial was denied as the trial court erroneously decided that defendant could not adequately represent himself because of jail restrictions resulting from his disciplinary infractions, and Faretta and its progeny require reversal of the judgment in its entirety.    

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Appellate Information
Appeal from Sacramento County Super. Ct. No. 96F00389

Filed December 11, 2009

Judges
Before:  George, C. J., Baxter, J., Chin, J., Corrigan, J.,  Kennard, J.,  Moreno, J., and Werdegar, J.,

Opinion by Corrigan, J.

Counsel
For Appellant:  Lynne S. Coffin and Michael J. Hersek, State Public Defenders, Jay Colangelo, Assistant State Public Defender, Jessica K. McGuire and Caroline Lange, Deputy State Public Defenders

For Appellee:  Bill Lockyer and Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorneys General, Robert R. Anderson and Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Pamela C. Hamanaka, Assistant Attorney General, Keith H. Borjon and Jason C. Tran, Deputy Attorneys General