WA: having issues

There are worse things than being represented by a public defender.

Not being represented by a public defender, for instance.

On trial without a lawyer

There aren't too many people in the King County courtroom who seem particularly happy with a 24-year-old Kent man's decision to represent himself against charges that he killed his parents.

Certainly not the Superior Court judge who has repeatedly urged Neelesh Phadnis to reconsider his decision to represent himself. Not his former lawyer, who sits next to Phadnis and tries, usually in vain, to give counsel. Even Phadnis, who has no legal training, concedes he is "unhappy" and "shaky" about his situation. But he said he has been forced to defend himself because he has had "issues" with all four of the public defenders assigned to him since his arrest...