Citations
- 140 F.3d 392
Full opinion text
ALTIMARI, Circuit Judge:
Like the Phoenix, this ease rises from the smoldering ashes of a young woman’s discarded political beliefs. Almost two decades ago, petitioner-appellant Marie Haydee Beltran Torres (“Torres”), a member of the Fuerzas Armada de Liberación Nacional (“FALN”), believing that the United States was Puerto Rico’s enemy, took the position that United States’ courts had no jurisdiction over those who supported Puerto Rican independence.
Torres was indicted for the 1977 bombing of the Mobil Oil Building in Manhattan, for which the FALN claimed responsibility, and which resulted in the death of one man and injury to several others. At her trial, Torres refused the appointment of counsel, demanded to represent herself and then informed the district court that she would neither present a defense nor participate in the proceedings. Firm in her political stance, Torres declined every opportunity during a three-day trial to change her mind. After a guilty verdict was announced, the district court decided to submit the question of punishment to the jury and conducted a separate sentencing hearing to determine whether Torres should be sentenced to life imprisonment pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 34. Torres refused to participate in the sentencing hearing and presented no mitigating evidence. Convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, Torres did not pursue the court-initiated appeal on her behalf.
Fifteen years later, Torres claimed she was denied her constitutional rights under the Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments. She now appeals from an order entered on November 27,1996 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Knapp,