Opinion
No. 3D06-2185.
July 9, 2008. Rehearing Denied September 3, 2008.
An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Israel Reyes, Judge.
Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender, and Thomas Regnier, Assistant Public Defender, for appellant.
Bill McCollum, Attorney General, and Lunar Claire Alvey, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.
Before SHEPHERD and SALTER, JJ., and SCHWARTZ, Senior Judge.
As in Rodriguez v. State, 982 So.2d 1272 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008), the failure of the trial judge to conduct a Faretta hearing prior to denying the defendant's unequivocal request to represent himself at the probation violation hearing, requires reversal of the adverse judgment which followed.
Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975).
We are unable to draw a distinction between the words uttered by Rodriguez ("Well, I prefer to represent myself.") and those of Robinson ("I would rather represent myself.").
Reversed and remanded.