Criminal Mischief In Ohio

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Ohio

I was in an incident where a person deliberately damaged my car. The police were called and he was charged with M3 Criminal Mischief.

He pleaded NG at arraingment and said he was going to hire a lawyer. He has a pretrial conference in a week and has still not hired a laywer yet (not "notice of appearance" in the online court record yet)

Question: If he shows up at the PTC alone and continues to plead NG then what options does the judge have?

- Allow him proceed to trial without representation?
- Can the judge force him to get a lawyer?
- Can the judge order a continuance and 'strongly recommend' a lawyer?

What I mean is, do the judges generally not 'care' that a person is representing himself in a case where he could be jailed (and doing a terrible job of it)? Or do they tend to prefer a 'fair fight' and would insist that he be represented when jail time is an option?

The judge cannot force you to get an attorney unless you've been proved legally incompetent.

You have the legal right to appear pro se at all court proceedings. Even if you're making a hash of it.

(I am personally of the opinion that appearing pro se is a foolish move, but that and $3 will only get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.)

Thanks for the response. I agree that a lay person going pro se is insanity when jail time is an option, but that's his right and his choice. As long as it doesn't delay the case it doesn't matter to me. If nothing else, the money he saves on attorney's fees can got towards restitution... :cool: