Page:Shabazz v. State.pdf/13

 We conclude that Tovar does not stand for a bright-line mandate that “a less searching or formal colloquy” concerning the Sixth Amendment right to counsel applies in all pretrial proceedings. The State’s argument treats all pretrial proceedings the same. They are not. Tovar involved a pretrial plea hearing. Here, we have a pretrial suppression hearing. They are very different in their composition. Unlike a plea hearing, evidence is introduced at a suppression hearing. As such, evidentiary rules apply; witnesses are called and examined; and certain trial tactics and strategies might reasonably be employed for the benefit of the defendant. In this way, suppression hearings are more akin to a trial in which the more rigid Faretta analysis applies. While the Supreme Court in Tovar did indicate that a more relaxed approach to the Sixth Amendment may suffice at some earlier stages of the criminal process, it reiterated the more "pragmatic approach to the waiver question." Id. at 90 (quoting Patterson v. Illinois, 487 U.S. 285 (1988)). In Patterson, the Supreme Court stated that courts must look to "what purposes a lawyer can serve at the particular stage of the proceedings in question, and what assistance he could provide to an accused at that stage," in order to "determine the scope of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, and the type of warnings and procedures that should be required before a waiver of that right will be recognized." Patterson, 487 U.S. at 298. We hold that because suppression hearings, unlike plea hearings, more closely resemble a trial, a more relaxed or less formal inquiry is not sufficient. Therefore, the more heightened Faretta standard of review governing trials should control.

The State argues that even if the trial court erred in allowing Shabazz to proceed pro se, the decision was harmless because Shabazz was provided the assistance of standby counsel.