NEW YORK-
A new trial was given to a woman who had represented herself in a deadly armored-truck robbery case but insisted she remain outside court as prosecutors presented evidence 23 years ago, according to a federal judge’s ruling released Monday.
Judith Clark, now 56, was convicted of murder as the getaway driver in the Rockland County heist that left a guard and two policemen dead. She is serving a 75-year sentence.
U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin agreed with Clark’s 2005 petition, which argued the judge at her 1983 trial violated the Constitution by allowing her to act as her own attorney.
The trial judge failed to ensure Clark could abide by the rules of the court when she waived her right to a lawyer, Scheindlin wrote in a 72-page decision signed Thursday.
Clark and her four co-defendants said the goal of the 1981 robbery was to seize money to create a Republic of New Afrika consisting of former slave states.
Before her trial, Clark told the court: “I wish to represent myself because as a freedom fighter I am the only one who can speak for myself and I can definitely not be represented by an officer of the court.”
Scheindlin called Clark’s 1983 trial “almost unprecedented.”
“She vigorously sought to represent herself at trial and yet was so unwilling to abide by courtroom protocol that she remained in a cell, outside the courtroom, for the entire presentation of the prosecution’s case,” the judge wrote.
Sheriff James Kralik called the judge’s decision “patently wrong” and “an absurd ruling.” He said he was glad the county’s district attorney was appealing it.
“I hope the appeal resonates with a court with a little more common sense,” he said, predicting a new trial would be a tremendous burden on the people of Rockland County.
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Associated Press writer Jim Fitzgerald in White Plains, N.Y., contributed to this report.
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