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State v. Hyatt4/6/1999
Appeal by defendant from judgments entered 10 October 1996
by Winner, J., in Superior Court, Buncombe County. Heard in the
Court of Appeals 28 January 1999.
On 10 January 1996, defendant Tony Ray Hyatt ("Hyatt") was indicted for possession of a firearm by a felon, driving with a revoked license, felonious driving while impaired, four counts of assault with a deadly weapon upon a government official, and six counts of being a habitual felon. Approximately five months thereafter, a public defender was appointed to represent Hyatt in Superior Court.
On 5 August 1996, Hyatt's case was called for trial. At that time, Hyatt expressed dissatisfaction with his assigned counsel and moved to continue the trial so that his mother could obtain private counsel for him. Upon hearing Hyatt's motion, the trial court engaged in the following colloquy with Hyatt:
Q: "Alright, Mr. Hyatt, let me ask you something. In your motion here you've asked for a continuance. Are you relying on your mother to hire this lawyer, because if you're telling me you want to waive your right to a Court Appointed lawyer, that's fine, but I don't want to let [the Court Appointed lawyer] out of the lawsuit, and then if your mother suddenly hasn't gotten her money from Social Security , or for whatever reason she decides she's not going to hire that lawyer or any other lawyer, for that matter, then we'll be up here again. Now, when is your mother supposed to have her situation where she can employ this lawyer for you?"
A: "She has called down to Alabama where the checks and stuff come from, and they told her that within three to four weeks it would be there."
Q: "Well, now, we're not going to continue it for more than a month. Are you going to be prepared to proceed and go forward at that time?"
A: "Yes, sir."
Q: "Even if you haven't hired a lawyer?"
A: "I'm going to have one, Your Honor."
Q: "So you're willing--What I'm asking you is, you've got a right to have a Court Appointed lawyer."
A: "Right."
Q: "Now, what I'm saying is, I won't let [the Court Appointed lawyer] out if you don't want to proceed without a Court Appointed lawyer."
A: "No, I'd just rather--If I ain't got one at that time if I get it continued, we'll go with it by myself then."
Q: "Alright, if you'll sign a Waiver, I'll let you out of the lawsuit, the case, Ms. Burner [the Court Appointed lawyer]. I will continue it, but I will put in there that it's not to be continued again. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
A: "Yes, sir."
Following this inquiry, Hyatt signed the Waiver of Counsel form indicating, inter alia, that he had been fully informed of the charges against him, the nature of and the statutory punishment for each such charge and his right to assigned counsel. Thereafter, the trial court granted Hyatt's motion to withdraw counsel and continued the case until 9 September 1996.
However on that date, Hyatt again appeared in court without counsel and asked for another continuance. At that session, Hyatt's mother informed the trial court that she still awaited her Social Security payments which she intended on using to obtain private counsel. The trial court granted Hyatt a continuance until 7 October 1996 after explicitly warning Hyatt and his mother that "this is the last time we're going to continue this, so you have to understand that, okay?"
When Hyatt's case came to trial on 7 October 1996, Hyatt once again appeared without counsel. At that time, the following exchange occurred:
COURT: "Mr. Hyatt
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