People v. Castellano CA5

INTRODUCTION

Appellant/defendant Adrian Castellano was charged and convicted of count I, second degree burglary, based on his theft of merchandise from a store (Pen. Code, §§ 459, 460, subd. (b));1 and count II, felony evading an officer, for leading police officers on a high speed chase against traffic on a busy freeway (Veh. Code, § 2800.2, subd. (a)). He had three prior strike offenses (§ 667, subds. (b)–(i)) for assault with a deadly weapon, based on an incident when he attacked three people with a baseball bat. He was sentenced to the indeterminate third strike term of 50 years to life. The evidentiary portions of defendant’s jury trial on the substantive offenses, and the bifurcated jury trial on the special allegations, were fairly short and straightforward. From the beginning of the criminal proceedings, however, defendant brought numerous motions to discharge his court-appointed counsel pursuant to People v. Marsden (1970) 2 Cal.3d 118 (Marsden), to represent himself pursuant to Faretta v. California (1975) 422 U.S. 806 (Faretta), to hire retained counsel just days before the scheduled trial date, and to otherwise continue the trial because of his alleged poor health,…