People v. Quintero CA4/1

INTRODUCTION

A jury convicted Daniel Rodriguez Quintero of first degree murder with the special circumstances of torture and kidnapping for ransom. Early in the case, Quintero asked to represent himself. The trial court granted his

Faretta1 motion and appointed the Office of Assigned Counsel (OAC) “to provide a legal runner and reasonable ancillary services.” Quintero later raised concerns about the efficiency of OAC and, on two separate occasions, requested the appointment of “co-counsel” other than OAC or the public defender. The trial court denied both requests and, approximately three weeks later, Quintero relinquished his pro per status. He was represented by a public defender at trial. On appeal, Quintero contends the trial court failed to exercise its

discretion to appoint “advisory counsel”2 and, instead, summarily denied his request as a matter of practice. He further contends the error is reversible per se because it would have been an abuse of discretion to deny the request had the trial court exercised its discretion. The Attorney General contends Quintero forfeited this claim by relinquishing his pro per status, the trial court did not fail to exercise its…