Criminal Justice
Pro Se Defendant Blames Judge for Conviction ... And Is Pro Se Again in New Trial
A pro se defendant who sat silently through much of his trial is now blaming the Indiana judge who oversaw the Vanderburgh County case for allegedly failing to warn him adequately of the dangers of self-representation and failing to notice his troubled mental state.
As a result of his jury conviction on misdemeanor charges of resisting law enforcement and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, Michael Shepard, 34, now faces a new trial for probation violation in an earlier Warrick County case, the Evansville Courier & Press reports. He was sentenced to three years in the Vanderburgh case.
He is again representing himself pro se in the Warrick case, the article notes.
