Nelson (Michael) v. State

• Court: Nevada Supreme Court
• Decided: July 22, 2013
• Docket: 61951
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

Nelson's request because of his inability to articulate "the elements of the

crime, how to pick a jury, [the] rules of evidence, how to go about

questioning witnesses and objecting to things" and his lack of "the kind of

experience necessary" to represent himself. The district court did not

make a finding as to whether Nelson understood the risks of self-

representation or whether his decision was knowing, voluntary, and

intelligent. Although the district court's canvass regarding Nelson's legal

knowledge was appropriate, its reliance upon his lack thereof as the basis

to deny his request was not." Vanisi, 117 Nev. at 341, 22 P.3d at 1172

("[A] criminal defendant's ability to represent himself has no bearing upon

his competence to choose self-representation." (internal quotation marks

omitted)); Graves v. State, 112 Nev. 118, 124, 912 P.2d 234, 238 (1996).

Because the record makes clear that Nelson understood the risks of

proceeding without counsel and chose to assume them, we conclude that

the district court erred by denying his request on the stated grounds, see

Vanisi, 117 Nev. at 341-42, 22 P.3d at 1172, and we

'Although the district court would have acted within its discretion had it denied Nelson's request as untimely, the record clearly indicates that it based its decision on Nelson's lack of legal knowledge.

SUPREME COURT OF NEVADA 2 (0) 1947A

Sra,W11=1)17.791)7RMISE7P-1,1;s' , - ORDER the judgment of conviction REVERSED AND REMAND this matter to the district court for proceedings consistent with this order.

Hardesty

cc: Hon. Douglas W. Herndon, District Judge Clark County Public Defender Attorney General/Carson City Clark County District Attorney Eighth District Court Clerk

SUPREME COURT OF NEVADA 3 (0) 1947A

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