The conviction may also be held invalid if the defendant was denied his or her constitutional right to proceed in pro per in the proceedings which led to the prior conviction.[54] 

 

Further, a guilty plea may be deemed involuntary where the court erroneously refused to allow the defendant to represent himself or herself, and, as a result, the defendant was forced to plead guilty rather than suffer an unconstitutional trial.  To prevail on such a claim, the defendant must show that the court violated his Sixth Amendment right to self-representation, as discussed above, and that the limited choice of proceeding to trial rather than pleading guilty rendered the plea involuntary because the court’s decision to deny self-representation placed “unreasonable constraints” on the decision whether to plead guilty.[55]

[54] Moore v. Calderon, 108 F.3d 261 (9th Cir. 1997).  Cf. People v. Marshall (1997) 15 Cal.4th 1, 20-27.

[55] United States v. Henderson, 203 F.3d 614 (9th Cir. 2000) (holding guilty plea involuntary where court violated petitioner’s Sixth Amendment right to proceed pro se, and thus, forced him into pleading guilty or suffering trial with unwanted counsel).

Other

CAL POST CON"GROUNDS"RIGHT TO COUNSEL"MENTAL COMPETENCE FOR SELF-REPRESENTATION
People v. Johnson, 53 Cal.4th 519, 267 P.3d 1125 (Jan. 30, 2012) (the fact that a criminal defendant is competent to stand trial does not necessarily mean that he is also competent to represent himself).

CAL POST CON " GROUNDS " COUNSEL " RIGHT TO SELF-REPRESENTATION
People v. Johnson, 53 Cal.4th 519, 267 Cal.Rptr. ___, 2012 WL 254856 (Jan. 31. 2012) (trial courts may deny self-representation at trial by a defendant, due to mental health issues, in those cases where Indiana v. Edwards permits such denial; the standard is whether the defendant suffers from a severe mental illness to the point where he or she cannot carry out the basic tasks needed to present the defense without the help of counsel); following Indiana v. Edwards, 554 U.S. 164, 174, 128 S.Ct. 2379, 171 L.Ed.2d 345 (2008) (states may, but need not, deny self-representation to defendants who, although competent to stand trial, lack the mental health or capacity to represent themselves at trial).