A Fool for a Client?

A favorite slogan of the legal profession is that anyone who attempts to defend himself in a court of law "has a fool for a client." Yet the Supreme Court recently ruled that the Sixth Amendment "grants to the accused personally the right to make his own defense." It also ruled, in the 1974 case involving the Nixon tapes, that a President "must yield to the demonstrated, specific need for evidence in a pending [federal] criminal trial." As a result of those rulings, Lynette ("Squeaky") Fromme will be acting as her own counsel when she goes on trial this week for attempting to assassinate President Ford, and she will be able to use testimony that the defense compelled Ford to provide.

Though no President has ever testified in person at a criminal trial while in office, "Lawyer" Fromme and her court-appointed co-counsel, John Virga, requested that District Court Judge Thomas MacBride order Ford to appear in court to testify on behalf of the defense. Despite Justice Department objections, MacBride agreed and last week ordered Ford to testify and to be questioned by Virga. He did add, however, that Ford could limit himself to a videotaped deposition in Washington, an innovative technical advance that makes it possible for juries to watch and hear witnesses who cannot appear in court.

A Click. Did Squeaky Fromme intend to assassinate Ford as he gladhanded his way through a crowd in Sacramento? Or was it all a wild publicity stunt? Several witnesses claim they heard a click when Squeaky pointed her pistol. Yet Ford, who was standing two feet away from his potential assassin, has already asserted that he has "no recollection of hearing the handgun click." The defense has now won the right to probe that further.

As her own counsel, Squeaky has accepted the need for a trained co-counsel, but she rejected Public Defender E. Richard Walker as a man with whom she had "no rapport." MacBride then assigned her to Virga. The judge has let her speak up at all pretrial hearings, so long as the two co-counsel do not speak up at once. To prepare her case, Squeaky has been virtually exempted from jailhouse routine. She is also entitled to have access to law books. Squeaky's studies have doubtless turned up a further advantage to acting as her own lawyer: she can decline to testify, then as counsel sum up her case without having to subject herself to crossexamination.

Despite these benefits, many lawyers believe that the old rule against a defendant representing himself still applies. "She is ill-advised and is increasing the likelihood that she will stay in jail," says Monroe Freedman, dean of the Hofstra University law school. He points out that defendants who act as their own lawyers tend to get tangled up with issues extraneous to the case.

Heedless of warnings from the bench, Fromme has already digressed into some of her pet causes, such as the fate of California's redwoods, because, she argues, "the defendant's state of mind" at the time of the Ford incident "may be directly concerned with such social matters." But Judge MacBride has ruled that he will block any testimony and evidence that he thinks is irrelevant to the case. Squeaky has already demonstrated, however, that she is inclined to say whatever she likes. On one occasion, she even turned on the judge, an avid duck hunter, and declared: "It's shameful that you have to shoot birds out of the sky for recreation." The judge had no answer to offer.

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