Newton

Defendant was convicted by a jury of possession of marijuana, two counts of manslaughter, and of driving while intoxicated. The jury found against defendant on his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Upon this appeal defendant relies primarily upon the contention the court abused its discretion in denying his request to dismiss counsel the second day of the trial and to proceed in propria persona. His other ground of appeal, that the court violated Penal Code section 654 in sentencing him on separate counts arising out of the same transaction, proves to be without foundation upon examination of the record. The court followed the procedure outlined in People v. Niles, 227 Cal.App.2d 749, 755-756 [ 39 Cal.Rptr. 11 ], and People v. Gomez, 252 Cal.App.2d 844, 859 [ 60 Cal.Rptr. 881 ], by suspending execution of sentence on all but one count of those sentences arising out of the same transaction.

Turning to defendant’s contention that he was improperly denied the right of self-representation at the trial, we note that Deputy Public Defender Germino investigated the case and represented defendant at the preliminary hearing and through the first day of trial. At the beginning of…