Tooby's California Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants

The conviction may also be held invalid if the defendant was denied his or her constitutional right to proceed in pro per in the proceedings which led to the prior conviction.[54] 

Further, a guilty plea may be deemed involuntary where the court erroneously refused to allow the defendant to represent himself or herself, and, as a result, the defendant was forced to plead guilty rather than suffer an unconstitutional trial.  To prevail on such a claim, the defendant must show that the court violated his Sixth Amendment right to self-representation, as discussed above, and that the limited choice of proceeding to trial rather than pleading guilty rendered the plea involuntary because the court’s decision to deny self-representation placed “unreasonable constraints” on the decision whether to plead guilty.[55]

[54] Moore v. Calderon, 108 F.3d 261 (9th Cir. 1997).  Cf. People v. Marshall (1997) 15 Cal.4th 1, 20-27.

[55] United States v. Henderson, 203 F.3d 614 (9th Cir. 2000) (holding guilty plea involuntary where court violated petitioner’s Sixth Amendment right to proceed pro se, and thus, forced him into pleading guilty or suffering trial with unwanted counsel).