Alaska Employment Law

Right to represent oneself:  The 9th Circuit, this Tuesday morning, held that U. S. District Judge Ralph Beistline violated a criminal defendant’s right to represent himself, but that the error was harmless.  The panel did not resolve the standard of appellate review, holding that the error violated either standard.  The per curiam opinion states:

an improper denial of a defendant’s motion to proceed pro se at sentencing, rather than at trial, is not a structural error and is thus subject to harmless error analysis. The error is not intrinsically harmful to the entire proceedings. See id. (quoting Neder v. United States, 527 U.S. 1, 7 (1999)). The appellate court may review the sentencing proceedings and ascertain beyond a reasonable doubt whether the error contributed to the sentence imposed. See id. Indeed, the record here is quite evident that the district court’s denial of Maness’ request to represent himself did not cause any error because, although it did not allow Maness to proceed without an attorney, the court did permit Maness to file briefs and motions pro se. The court acted upon those pro se filings, ordering the government to respond to several motions and granting one. It is thus clear beyond a reasonable doubt that the Sixth Amendment error did not result in prejudice. See United States v. Marks, 530 F.3d 799, 812 (9th Cir. 2008).

U. S. v. Maness, ___ F.3d ___ (9th Cir. May 19, 2009)

Firing of pastor:  Fairbanks Superior Court Judge Paul Lyle has denied the congregants’ motion to reconsider in the case of the fired Baptist Church minister.