United States v. Eddie Edwards

Eddie Edwards, a federal prisoner, appeals the district court’s denial of his motion for a new trial. Edwards contends that he was deprived of his constitutional right to testify on his own behalf when his attorney waived his right to testify without consulting him. We affirm.

I

On April 29, 1987, Edwards, an Apache Indian, was indicted by a federal grand jury on the charge that he had raped a woman on the San Carlos Indian Reservation in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1153 and 2031. He was convicted by a jury after a three-day trial at which he did not testify.

Approximately one month after the trial, the district court received a copy of a letter written by Edwards to the United States Probation Department in Tucson, Arizona, in which he complained about receiving ineffective assistance of trial counsel. The letter included a claim that his trial counsel, David Gerson, refused to allow Edwards to testify on his own behalf. Following this letter Edwards made a motion for relief requesting a new trial pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 and/or § 2255. An evidentiary hearing was held on December 21, 1987.

At the hearing on the motion for a new trial, Edwards testified that he had told…