Court of Appeals hears argument over whether trial court denied Bridgewater right to self-representation

The Utah Court of Appeals heard argument on whether the trial court violated Joshua Ryan Bridgewater's right to represent himself, focusing on whether the record shows an informed, knowing waiver of counsel.

At oral argument on the court's livestream, Robert Denney, counsel for the appellant, told the panel that "the trial court violated mister Bridgewater's right to represent himself when he requested 5 months before trial to defend himself pro se." Denney said the court failed to make the necessary finding that any waiver was knowing and intelligent and stressed there is no transcript evidence of a full colloquy at the relevant time.

The issue matters, Denney said, because courts must evaluate waiver at the time it is made: "under Kadoki, the relevant time period is the time of waiver. So even if there was a prior colloquy, the trial court needed to make the determination as to a known intelligent waiver at the specific time that he set aside…