Monday presents an opportunity for the sounds of sheer fire and fury as Lane Myers is set to appear at a motions hearing in both his sets of criminal charges out of Pima County, Arizona, at which it will be determined if he can ditch his current attorney and defend himself from the twenty felony and misdemeanor charges he’s facing.
Judge D. Douglas Metcalf issued a ruling on Friday setting the 3:30PM local time hearing after William Parven filed motions withdrawing as both his advisory attorney and his attorney of record, along with any motions that Parven has filed on behalf of Myers.
Myers and Parven were tied together due to unique circumstances. Myers stands accused of harassing the wife of the prosecutor in Tucson City Court case. He claims that after he contacted the prosecutor’s wife, his own domestic partner (who Myers refers to as his wife), who worked at the same university as his victim, was abruptly fired from her job.
The YouTuber has vowed revenge for this alleged action and directed his fans to contact his victim on his behalf. Myers has defended this, as he claims the victim is a public employee and due to the oath to the Constitution all Arizona public employees take, she is subject to inquiries from the public without consequence.
Parven was initially appointed Myers’ public defender when he was charged with the first set of criminal charges early this year. Myers sought and was granted the ability to represent himself against those charges, with Parven staying on to help Myers navigate the court system.
When the second set of charges were filed against Myers, Parven was again brought on as a public defender. He represented Myers through various bond and motion hearings in relation to that specific set of charges, with Myers making it clear that he intended to represent himself at the eventual trial when the two sets of charges would be merged.
Most recently, Myers backed away from the plan as Parven had filed motions to appeal Metcalf’s refusal to declare an Arizona law governing aggravated assault unconstitutional. Parven was attempting to gain Myers’ freedom during the appeal, as Myers claimed that he was unable to participate in his own defense from his jail cell.
But Myers apparently soured on Parven’s ability to help his case after last Monday’s procedural drubbing, where the pair won none of the motions they presented to the court.
The two openly bickered during recent hearings and Myers asked Judge Metcalf if he could fire Parven in the middle of at least one hearing when Parven refused to follow Myers’ instructions.
Observers have called Parven’s work the only bright spot in Myers’ defense as Myers is inexperienced in court proceedings and has minimal paralegal training. He often misinterprets simple facts of law and is known to completely ignore decorum, talking over opposing counsel, judges and his own legal counsel freely without regard to the rules of the court.
Judge Metcalf originally asked Parven to stay on to help Myers because of these tendencies and Parven has been an asset in helping Myers’ defense move forward smoothly. Parven has filed motions that were appropriate to his defense, and stepped in to calm Myers at times, stopping what could only be described as the mass chaos Myers has demonstrated when he has represented himself in lower court hearings.
Monday’s hearing is not a slam dunk for Myers, as Judge Metcalf has reminded Myers that to be found competent to be a pro se defendant, he must obey the rules of the court and show some sense of decorum. He has warned Myers in the past that if he refused to follow the Court’s rules, counsel could be reappointed to his defense and Myers may even lose the ability to be within the courtroom to participate in the trial.
As for what the future holds for the charges themselves, it’s clear that Myers has been pushing for a “speedy” trial while promising the bury the prosecution under a mound of new motions. He has disputed informal rules of the court, as he did with a witness list last week, and is apparently looking for as many ways to hinder his prosecution from moving forward.
While Parven refused to take part in a settlement conference and ignored calls for a plea deal, Myers may be more malleable to both, if it’s clear that he won’t be facing significant jail time or punishment for the crimes he’s been accused of.
In any case, as all eyes turn to the courtroom of Judge Metcalf, Monday’s hearing should be a spectacle to behold.
ReallyCoolNews will be providing a live simulcast of the hearing on our YouTube channel at 6:30PM Eastern tonight, followed by a panel discussion at 8PM Eastern.
