by TChris

Judith Clark, a Weather Underground member charged with acting as a getaway driver in the 1981 robbery of an armored car that resulted in three deaths, asked to represent herself at her trial. When that request was granted, Clark refused to participate in the trial, sitting in her cell while the prosecution presented its case.

U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled yesterday that Clark is entitled to a new trial. It's one thing for a court to allow a defendant to represent herself, but quite another to allow a trial to go forward when the defendant's interests are completely unrepresented. Defendants are allowed to represent themselves only if they're capable of abiding by court rules, and Clark showed herself unable to follow the primary rule: show up for the trial.

Clark was sentenced in 1983 to 75 years in prison.