APRIL 8, 2015, 1:57 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 2015, 5:19 PM
BY KIBRET MARKOS
STAFF WRITER |
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A Ridgewood doctor accused of stockpiling bomb-making materials and weapons at his home can represent himself in his upcoming trial, a judge in Hackensack ruled Wednesday.
Judge Edward Jerejian granted Roberto Rivera’s request to be his own lawyer, after a lengthy line of questioning to make sure that he understood the charges against him and that he was knowingly waiving his constitutional right to have an attorney.
Rivera, who has been represented by the Bergen County Public Defender’s Office since his arrest in 2012, had stated from the outset that he wanted to be his own attorney and has maintained his position despite being advised to get legal representation, said Ian Silvera, who has been Rivera’s attorney.
“I still take the position that it’s bad idea for a client in any criminal matter to represent themselves,” Silvera said at a hearing Wednesday.
Police said they went to Rivera’s home in November 2012 on a hazardous-material report and found large amounts of nitric acid, hydrogen peroxide, glycerin, sulfuric acid and other chemicals used for making explosives. They said they also found bomb detonators, two assault rifles, a .40 caliber handgun and a large-capacity magazine. Authorities did not say why Rivera was stockpiling the materials or whether he had any plans to use them.
another renter
folks so called “judge ” Edward A Jerejian is fake judge that hates pro-se litigant
he is pretending to let the man defend himself ,but he already convicted him before
the trial even started that is what this judge does now in 2016 to all pro-se homeowners
that want to defend themselves from illegal foreclosure by the fraudsters banksters which
this judge always support no matter what the fact are