Entries tagged with “Edward Wycoff”
Issues
Aug 27, 2021
California Supreme Court Overturns Conviction of Defendant who Represented Himself After Expert Deemed Him Incompetent to Stand Trial
The California Supreme Court has reversed the conviction of a death-row prisoner who was permitted to waive counsel and represent himself despite a mental health expert’s finding that he was too mentally ill even to stand trial. On August 23, 2021, the appeals court granted a new trial to Edward M. Wycoff in the 2006 murders of his sister and brother-in-law. In a unanimous opinion authored by Justice Martin Jenkins (pictured), the court held that Wycoff’s trial was unconstitutionally tainted…