Opinion
No. 15-10001-11
10-26-2016
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. MARLOS MANN, Defendant.
ORDER DENYING ENTRY OF DEFENDANT'S PRO SE PLEADING
On October 13, 2016, Defendant, Marlos Mann, acting pro se, mailed the Court a document entitled "Position of Defendant Regarding Presentencing Report and Sentences [sic] Factors and Errors." However, the docket reflects that Defendant is represented by counsel.
Title 28 U.S.C. § 1654 permits parties in the federal courts to "plead and conduct their own cases personally or by counsel[.]" The Sixth Circuit has "interpreted this provision as allowing a litigant to represent himself pro se or to obtain representation—but not both." United States v. Rohner, 634 F. App'x 495, 505 (6th Cir. 2015). That is, "[t]he right to defend pro se and the right to counsel have been aptly described as two faces of the same coin, in that waiver of one constitutes a correlative assertion of the other." Miller v. United States, 561 F. App'x 485, 488 (6th Cir. 2014) (quoting United States v. Mosely, 810 F.2d 93, 97 (6th Cir. 1987)). Nor do criminal defendants have a constitutional right to so-called "hybrid representation." United States v. Anderson, 616 F. App'x 770, 776 (6th Cir. 2015), cert. denied sub nom. Thompson v. United States, 135 S. Ct. 2877 (2015). Thus, courts generally will not consider a defendant's pro se pleading when he is represented by counsel. United States v. Modena, 430 F. App'x 444, 448 (6th Cir. 2011).
By invoking his right to be represented by counsel, Mann has waived his right to represent himself. Consequently, the pro se document, which appears to have been prepared and sent to the Court without the aid of or adoption by his attorney, will not be entered into the record or further considered by the Court.
Although the document purports to be submitted "by and [through] Counsel Jennifer Free," there is no evidence in the record that Attorney Free authorized Mann to submit this document to the Court or to attach her name to the pleading. --------
IT IS SO ORDERED this 26th day of October 2016.
s/ J. DANIEL BREEN
CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE