Michigan Court of Appeals vacates Luce County man’s 2021 jury convictions for drug charges

The Michigan Court of Appeals has vacated a Luce County man’s 2021 jury convictions for drug-related charges.

Paul Martin Collins was arrested Oct. 31, 2019 and charged with two counts: possession with intent to deliver meth and maintaining a drug house. The arrest, according to Appeals Court documents, was the result of a Michigan State Police Upper Peninsula Substance Enforcement Team (UPSET) bust in which detectives conducted a controlled purchase of meth using a confidential informant. Detectives also seized digital scales, Ziplock bags, two used glass pipes, and a container with 2.6 grams of meth.

Collins was convicted of both charges in a Dec. 2021 jury trial. In Feb. 2022, the court sentenced Collins to three to 20 years in prison for the possession charge and 286 days in jail for maintaining a drug house.

In April 2022, however, Collins began the process to appeal that conviction. In his appeal, Collins asserted that he “was denied his constitutional right to the assistance of counsel when the trial court allowed him to proceed” with self-representation. Specifically, he argued “the trial court did not ensure he validly made his initial waiver of counsel and that the trial court failed to reaffirm his waiver of counsel at the beginning of each subsequent proceeding as required” by law.

The appeals report states that Collins was represented by three different attorneys during the pretrial phrase. Mark Dobias, who replaced the second, eventually moved to withdraw as his counsel. At the hearing on the motion to withdraw, the court gave him the option to find new counsel or have one appointed to him. Collins said he intended to hire his own lawyer, but didn’t know if the attorney would take his case. The trial court said it would not release Dobias until he found a new attorney. Collins then asserted that he would represent himself. The court obtained Collins’ waiver of appointed counsel on record.

During the trial, Collins did represent himself, providing the opening statement, performing cross examination of the prosecutor’s witnesses, and recalling a prosecution witness to the stand in his defense. He also testified on his own behalf, arguing that he had narcolepsy and “had purchased meth in large quantities to ‘self-medicate’.” Collins had, in fact, fallen asleep twice during his final pretrial conference, when he first acknowledged his narcolepsy.

In analyzing the case, the Court of Appeals disagreed with Collins’ first assertion — that the trial court did not ensure he validly made his initial waiver of counsel — saying the trial court engaged in “an extensive dialogue with [the] defendant after he confirmed that he would like to represent himself.”

The court did agree, however, with Collins’ second assertion, saying, “the trial court clearly erred when it failed to reaffirm defendant’s waiver of counsel at each subsequent proceedings.”

The appeals court said it was convinced that had Collins been represented by counsel, he would have taken a plea offer that was made before the trial.

One judge’s opinion, however, was that neither argument stood up in the appeal.

Judge James Redford said in his letter of dissent, “Respectfully, it appears the majority conflates the concept of a defendant knowingly and intelligently waiving the right to counsel and the decision to exercise one’s constitutional right to represent oneself with the concept that a self-represented defendant must always make intelligent and logical decisions.”

He said he did not agree that the result would have been different had Collins been represented by legal counsel, because he believed Collins would have chosen to represent himself regardless of who was appointed or hired.