DETROIT (AP) — A federal appeals court has reinstated the carjacking and armed robbery conviction of a man who argued that he was forced to act as his own lawyer at age 18.
Omar Pouncy said his rights were violated in Genesee County when he felt he had to represent himself rather than rely on a court-appointed lawyer whom he felt was unprepared.
A federal judge last year threw out his conviction. But in a 2-1 decision last Friday, the appeals court reversed it.
The court said the legal standard to set aside the conviction is high and limited, and Pouncy’s appeal doesn’t fit. But the appeals court also sent the case back to the Detroit judge for consideration of other issues.
Pouncy was sentenced in 2006 to more than 40 years in prison.
- Posted January 18, 2017
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
Court reinstates carjacking in flap over lawyer
headlines Macomb
- Scholarship recipients celebrated
- Out-of-state residents arraigned after allegedly spray-painting offensive graffiti at four locations in Sterling Heights
- Nessel reaffirms commitment to crime victims during Crime Victims’ Rights Week
- AI scams consumer alert reissued during Money Smart Week
- Supreme Court seems wary of limiting federal regulators' power in a data privacy case
headlines National
- Millions of Americans continue to lack meaningful access to justice. What can be done about it?
- ACLU and BigLaw firm use ‘Orange is the New Black’ in hashtag effort to promote NY jail reform
- Federal judge hands down $110K penalty against 2 lawyers for AI errors in court documents
- Former adult film actress passes February bar exam in Texas
- Grad sues George Washington University, Ernst & Young after Gaza ‘genocide’ remarks in commencement speech
- Magicians Penn & Teller file Supreme Court brief questioning use of ‘investigative hypnosis’
