PORTLAND — A Maine man sentenced to seven years in jail after a judge stripped him of his right to a court-appointed lawyer is appealing his conviction to the state’s highest court.
Maine Supreme Judicial Court officials say Monday that Joshua Nisbet of Scarborough is appealing. An official says it will be months before the appeal is heard.
Justice Thomas Warren ruled in March that Nisbet “forfeited” his right to a lawyer after he went through five court-appointed attorneys — all of whom asked to be removed from the case — while awaiting trial. Warren sentenced Nisbet for robbery in May.
Nisbet, with no legal training, handled his own defense while two standby attorneys assigned by the court assisted him without addressing the jurors.
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