Jared Ranguy Decides to Represent Himself During Trial

And as we reported, Ranguy decided not to plead guilty, but rather go to trial and represent himself. Attorney Orson Elrington says that Ranguy’s decision is not surprising. 

Orson Elrington, Former Attorney for Jared Ranguy: “You might or might not know that on Monday of this week we at the request of Mr.Ranguy there was a sentence indication hearing. A sentence indication hearing is where the accused gets the opportunity to hear what would be his likely sentence if it is that they were to plead guilty at that point in the proceedings. Mr.Ranguy was court appointed – well I was appointed as Mr.Ranguy’s attorney I was court appointed as Mr.Raguy’s attorney. That means that the judge requested that we represent him and so it was imperatively important that we dotted all our Is can crossed all our Ts to ensure that he understands all of the avenues available to him under the law. So that was held on Monday. The judge gave him an indication and we had a meeting scheduled for Tuesday afternoon for him to give his final decision as to whether or not he would plead guilty or proceed today to trial. At our meeting on Tuesday he indicated that he would not plea guilty, that therefore he would continue to maintain his not guilty plea and therefore he wanted to proceed to trial. At the same time he thanked myself and my senior counsel for all our assistance and he expressed his gratitude for all the assistance we have provided so far but expressed that he wanted to proceed to trial representing himself and so on that day we relayed that to the court but of course we had to formally relay that message to the court this morning and so that is what we did in front of the Honorable Justice. So we relayed that to the Honorable Justice and at that point he relieved us of our duty of representing Mr.Ranguy.”

Reporter: Is it surprising or just mind boggling that someone who is accused of a triple murder would then decide to represent himself in a trial ? 

Orson Elrington, Former Attorney for Jared Ranguy: “Nothing surprises me with the law Hippolito, nothing at all surprises me so no. There is an old idiom in law that they tell attorneys an attorney that has himself for a client has an attorney for a fool. So you know it is never normally advisable that a person represent themselves but of course it is something for which persons have the right to do but normally it is that under the law there is a right to legal representation and so the court – and that is why the court would have afforded every opportunity for a person to be able to have legal representation and that is why the very provision in the law allows for persons to be able to court appointed so that they can have legal representation and it is through that vehicle through which we were appointed on this matter to represent Mr.Ranguy.”

The case was adjourned to May 2