Expert: Michael Troy - 9/9/2010

Question
QUESTION: I live in Beverly Hills, California. I am looking if you would be interested in providing your expert opinion on this: Is a criminal conviction obtained against a self-represented defendant who was banned from all the trial courts in a county during the so-called prosecution in California constitutional?

ANSWER: Hi Robert,

I'm not sure I really have enough facts to given any sort of opinion on the matter.  I'm not sure I fully understand what happened.  Was the defendant banned from going to his own trial?  If so, did the court say why?

- Mike



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I could not defend myself with the court ban in place because I was not allowed into the courthouse to use the law library to do my research as much as otherside. The court ban was put in place to ensure my conviction. I have attached a scanned copy of the court ban order. Was it really necessary to ban me from every courthouse in the county?

Answer
Hello,

I am not permitted to provide legal advice in this forum.  For that, you would need to speak with an attorney licensed in your State.  However, I will say generally that if the order was put in place in order to prevent adequate trial preparation, that would certainly raise constitutional question.  If, however, it was ordered because of some threat or harassment, and alternatives were available to the defendant to prepare for trial, the order could be valid.

Given the complexity of this matter, you may want to consider retaining counsel.  If you have not already, you may want to contact the local branch of your ACLU or similar organizations to see if they can review the case in more detail and determine if there is a due process violation here.  If you have a case subject to challenge, the ACLU would likely be willing to provide free legal assistance.

- Mike