United States v. Burston, No. 09-1860 (6th Cir. 2012)
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Ross and Burston were indicted for conspiracy to utter counterfeit securities and substantive counts related to the conspiracy. They gave counterfeit “official checks,” purportedly issued by Comerica Bank, to private vehicle owners and quickly resold the cars. Ross conceived the scheme and was primarily responsible for orchestrating it. Burston sold several vehicles. Before trial, Ross exhibited bizarre, paranoid behavior, causing withdrawal of three court-appointed attorneys. While represented by the third attorney, Ross moved to represent himself. The government sought a competency examination. The court denied the motions, with no finding as to Ross’s ability to represent himself, but later granted Ross’s motion and appointed standby counsel. The court subsequently held a competency hearing based on the report of a court-appointed psychologist and its own observations and found Ross competent to stand trial. A fourth attorney was appointed as standby counsel. Ross was sentenced to 60 months for conspiracy and 78 months for each substantive count, to be served concurrently. Burston was convicted of conspiracy, acquitted of the substantive count, and sentenced to 30 months. The Sixth Circuit affirmed with respect to Burston, but remanded for an evidentiary hearing to determine whether Ross was unconstitutionally deprived of representation during his competency hearing.
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