Callahan v. State

Powers, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This is an appeal by Stephen F. Callahan from judgments of conviction entered in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County upon acceptance of his tendered pleas of guilty to possession of marihuana in sufficient quantity to indicate an intent to distribute, and to breaking a storehouse with intent to commit a misdemeanor therein. He was sentenced to a term of three years for possession of marihuana, and to a concurrent term of 18 months for storehouse breaking. The sentence for storehouse breaking included an order that the appellant make restitution to the victim in the amount of $3,100 within five years from the date of his release.

Because they are not otherwise reflected in the record, we deem it appropriate to note here two requests which were made in this Court on behalf of the appellant on the day of argument. Upon completion of argument in the case scheduled next ahead of this case, the Clerk informed the Court that appellant’s counsel wished to be heard on a preliminary matter. We recognized counsel, who informed the Court that Mr. Callahan was present and desired to participate in the argument of his appeal. After a recess, we ⁶³⁰ denied that request.

Appellant and his counsel conferred briefly, whereupon counsel requested leave to withdraw from the case, so that appellant, then being without counsel, might argue his case in proper person. We declined to permit counsel to withdraw. Counsel proceeded to argue the points raised in the brief. Because the requests we have just noted involve procedure in this Court, they could not have been raised and decided in the lower court.

If Rule 1085 precluded our consideration of them, their merit or lack of merit could never be decided. We have already ruled. We now explain. The two questions are quite distinct.

One is whether a person may waive counsel and argue his own case on appeal. The other is whether a person may participate in appellate argument as his own co-counsel. May An Appellant Waive Counsel And Argue His Own Case On Appeal The Sixth Amendment right to counsel at the trial level in all but petty offenses is now well recognized. The right to forego representation by counsel at trial has received less prominent attention.

An exhaustive review of the decisions, as well as of relevant Federal and State constitutional and statutory provisions, may be found in the opinion by Mr. Justice' Stewart for the majority of the Supreme Court in Faretta v. California, 422 U. S. 806 , 45 L.Ed.2d. 562, 95 S. Ct. 2525 (1975). So far as the right to have counsel or to forego counsel is protected or guaranteed by the United States Constitution, it flows from the Sixth Amendment. In Faretta the Supreme Court said, at 819: “The Sixth Amendment does not provide merely that a defense shall be made for the accused; it grants to the accused personally the right to make his defense. It is the accused, not counsel, who must be ‘informed of the nature and cause of the accusation,’ who must be ‘confronted with the witnesses against him,’ and who must be accorded ‘compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his ⁶³¹ favor.’ Although not stated in the Amendment in so many words, the right to self-representation — to make one’s own defense personally — is thus necessarily implied by the structure of the Amendment.” The practical consequences of foregoing the right to counsel were discussed by the Court.

It said, at 835: “When an accused manages his own defense, he relinquishes, as a purely factual matter, many of the traditional benefits associated with the right to counsel. For this reason, in order to represent himself, the accused must ‘knowingly and intelligently’ forgo those relinquished benefits. Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S., at 464-465. Cf.

Von Moltke v. Gillies, 332 U.S. 708, 723-724 (plurality opinion of Black, J.). Although a defendant need not himself have the skill and experience of a lawyer in order competently and intelligently to choose self-representation, he should be made aware of the dangers and disadvantages of self-representation, so that the record will establish that ‘he knows what he is doing and his choice is made with eyes open.’ Adams v. United States ex rel. McCann, 317 U.S., at 279.” The Supreme Court reversed the conviction of Faretta. It said that the record affirmatively showed that he was “literate, competent, and understanding, and that he was voluntarily exercising his informed free will.” The Court held that “[i]n forcing Faretta, under these circumstances, to accept against his will a state-appointed public defender, the California courts deprived him of his constitutional right to conduct his own defense.” Despite recognition of the constitutional right of an accused to conduct his own defense, the courts remain alert to the requirement that a waiver of the right to counsel be shown on the record to be a knowing and intelligent one.

Maryland Rule 719 provides that the trial court shall not ⁶³² permit a waiver of representation unless it determines, after appropriate questioning in open court, that the accused fully comprehends the factors set forth in § c of the Rule. An affirmative showing of compliance is required by § f. In Hamilton v. State, 30 Md. App. 202 , 351 A. 2d 153 (1976), we discussed Faretta and Rule 719 in reversing a conviction because the record failed to show a knowing and intelligent waiver by the accused of his right to counsel. We have shown the jealousy with which the courts protect the right of an accused to the assistance of counsel at his trial, and the correlative right to conduct his own defense at his trial, in order to point up the different rule which applies at the appellate level.

Although the Supreme Court held almost three decades ago in Price v. Johnston, 334 U. S. 266 , 92 L. Ed. 1356 , 68 S. Ct. 1049 (1948), that a United States Court of Appeals has the power to issue an order in the nature of a writ of habeas corpus commanding that a prisoner be brought to the courtroom to argue his own appeal, the Court emphasized that such power was discretionary. It said, at 285: “The discretionary nature of the power in question grows out of the fact that a prisoner has no absolute right to argue his own appeal or even to be present at the proceedings in an appellate court. Schwab v. Berggren, [ 143 U. S. 442 , 36 L. Ed. 218 , 12 S. Ct. 525 ,] supra. The absence of that right is in sharp contrast to his constitutional prerogative of being present in person at each significant stage of a felony prosecution, see Hopt v. Utah, 110 U. S. 574 , [ 28 L. Ed. 262 , 4 S. Ct. 202 ,] and Snyder v. Massachusetts, 291 U. S. 97 , [ 78 L. Ed. 674 , 54 S. Ct. 330 , 90 A.L.R. 575 ,] and to his recognized privilege of conducting his own defense at the trial.” The ensuing comment by the Court suggests that the fact of incarceration brings about the withdrawal or limitation of many privileges and rights, but the Court did not hold that the action of the court is any less discretionary when the accused is at liberty.

And with no reference to the status of ⁶³³ the person, whether imprisoned or at liberty, the Supreme Court said, in Faretta, supra, at 816: “And in Price v. Johnston, 334 U. S. 266 , the Court, in holding that a convicted person had no absolute right to argue his own appeal, said this holding was in ‘sharp contrast’ to his ‘recognized privilege of conducting his own defense at the trial.’ ” We conclude that the question of whether an appellant may waive counsel and argue his own case on appeal involves no matter of right, but is addressed to the discretion of the appellate court. May An Appellant