LS wanting to represent herself should come as no surprise given that she reportedly had only one in-person meeting with her defense attorney which was for her first appearance.
LS was arrested in South Carolina on March 2, and transferred to El Paso County jail a couple of days later-- just as COVID19 was making news as a global pandemic.
In motions filed by her defense team last May, seeking to delay her preliminary hearing, they cited that LS had been restricted to video visits with her attorneys since that first court appearance.
Another motion claimed the El Paso County jail stopped allowing video visitation for LS and other inmates with her security designation in early May. There was a gag order that prevented getting confirmation from the jail specifically about LS access to video visits but 11 NEWS was able to confirm that video visits cannot be scheduled for inmates in certain wards during standard duty hours (8 a.m.-5 p.m.), but can be scheduled after normal hours.
In other words, not only did the defense claim their ability to work on their case had been hindered by the pandemic, but LS further created meeting problems for herself and her legal team by her own behavior behind bars (i.e., illegal jailhouse communications, and escape plans, etc.).
It would require multiple contact meetings for LS to receive and/or review documents from her defense, and I don't think it was happening at the speed that LS expected or believed she was entitled to. In a letter dated August 12, LS also wrote to the Judge to complain about not being able to participate in her defense:
Stauch complained that she has not been able to meet in-person with her legal counsel in five months. In May, her lawyers asked a judge to allow video conferencing or for Stauch to be released on bond.
“I understand this pandemic is unforeseen but I don’t feel I should be held unconstitutionally, denied access to my attorneys, have constitutional rights violated, and be abused in the process,” Stauch wrote.
She says she cannot properly participate in her defense because she is limited to three one-hour phone calls with her attorneys each week.
“I do not feel like a U.S. citizen being treated this way in my beloved country. I’m not getting a fair process, I’m not getting represented properly..."
Attorneys for Letecia Stauch seeking to push back court, potentially allow for bond
Letecia Stauch writes letter to judge claiming she is being mistreated in jail | FOX31 Denver
Thanks @Seattle1 for reminding us of the client/attorney history in this case. It is complicated and unusual. Some of LS's statements do contain truth but often that truth it is so overlaid with her "irrational" thinking, the truth is hard to see.
One point though, in a document filed May 12 but posted May 18, a slightly different picture arises than I read your summary to suggest. (That document was filed before her attempted escape in Colorado so I'm not sure how much her behavior "behind bars" was to blame for the situation. She reportedly did try to escape in Kansas, of course. And many on WS also thought she was on "suicide watch" in CO. That may or may not have been true.)
In that May 12 document, her attorneys explain (as did you, @Seattle1) that due to COVID, only video visitation occurred in March and April after the initial F2F meeting they had in March. As @Seattle1 states, sharing of documents could not really happen by video. Plus, the state's sharing of discovery with the defense had barely begun by late April anyway. (Recall Allen's statement in court about how long that would take--so there wasn't much of anything to share at that point.)
Her attorneys argue that beginning in early May for people of LS's security designation (reason for designation redacted) in-person attorney visitation was required by the jail. Video visitation was no longer allowed for people of LS's designation.
Quite naturally with COVID beginning to really rage and all the panic that was ensuing, her attorneys were opposed to having to go to the jail to see her. They argued visitation spaces did not allow social distancing from other attorneys/inmates AND jailers treated antibacterial wipes as "contraband" so spaces could not be even minimally cleaned. Further, the ventilation system was antiquated and inmates were not issued masks at that time.
https://www.courts.state.co.us/userfiles/file/Court_Probation/04th_Judicial_District/El_Paso/Stauch/D-11 Motion for Video Access to Client_Redacted.pdf
I am sure we will look back and see many of the COVID-panic policies were ill-advised and short-sighted. That includes in jails and certainly in that jail. I expect too we'll see some court "do overs" because of bad policies.
It may be that this history and knowledge of the unfortunate jail policies played a role in the judge's decision to allow self-representation.
JMO
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