`Train wreck’ defense rests
`A man whose efforts to defend himself against double homicide charges have been called a “train wreck” tried one last time yesterday to convince a jury he did not kill his parents. [..]
Phadnis, who has no legal training, insisted on defending himself against the two aggravated first-degree murder charges despite warnings from King County Superior Court Judge Helen Halpert and his former attorneys. He opted to act as his own attorney, he said, because he had “issues” with all four public defenders assigned to him. [..]
The number of people Phadnis claimed were involved in his parents’ slayings, as well as their ethnicity, changed daily, according to Phadnis’ testimony. One day, the gang was comprised of a handful of Samoans and their girlfriends. Later that same day, there were also two whites, a couple of blacks, one Native American and, perhaps, even one transgendered individual in the gang. By the end of the trial, Phadnis was saying there were more than 30 armed Samoans involved.’
September 26th, 2011 at 5:12 pm
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November 15th, 2011 at 8:29 pm
good post.