People v. Vargas CA2/4

DISCUSSION

Before trial commenced, appellant made a Marsden motion for substitution of counsel. (People v. Marsden (1970) 2 Cal.3d 118.) In the hearing on the motion, appellant stated that “there’s certain things that haven’t been brought up that need to be brought up.” In response, defense counsel stated that appellant had raised the possibility of other witnesses, but that counsel had interviewed all the

3 witnesses, including a friend of appellant’s who was not present at the beginning of the incident. Appellant also stated that he wanted counsel to make a Pitchess motion (Pitchess v. Superior Court (1974) 11 Cal.3d 531) and to obtain records of telephone calls to the police and police radio transmissions. Defense counsel replied that she had explained to appellant that she had requested the phone calls and transmissions from the prosecutor, and that a Pitchess motion was not relevant to the attempted robbery charge because there were no police officers present at the time of the incident. The court denied the Marsden motion. After the jury convicted appellant and he waived his right to a jury trial on the prior convictions, he asked to represent himself for the remainder of…