http://magicvalley.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/in-calmer-second-hearing-utah-man-held-on-million-bond/article_c21fccce-b721-5f01-b61f-0d5fc5d8c864.html
In calmer second hearing, Utah man held on $100 million bond accepts attorney's help
ALEX RIGGINS August 5, 2016
TWIN FALLS — Prosecutors Thursday filed a new, more serious felony charge against a Utah man accused in a knife attack, but cooler heads prevailed in the man’s second court appearance after his initial hearing turned confrontational at times and a judge set his bond at $100 million.
Mulugeta Zemu Mana, 32, of Salt Lake City is accused of attacking an acquaintance with a knife last week at a home on Third Avenue West behind Washington Street Pawn. Mana was originally charged with aggravated battery, punishable by up to 15 years in prison, but prosecutors Thursday filed an amended criminal complaint charging Mana with battery with intent to commit a serious felony.
That charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and prosecutors are seeking an enhanced penalty of 15 years for use of a deadly weapon.
Mana, a refugee who’s likely from the African horn nation of Eritrea based on the Tigrinya language he speaks, is accused of attacking a fellow refugee outside a Twin Falls home July 28. Mana told arresting officers he attacked his victim, Samuel Gebreegziabher, because Gebreegziabher and two others ruined his life.
Gebreegziabher told police he knew Mana from the College of Southern Idaho refugee program, but he hadn’t seen him in three years and had no relationship with him.
In court the day after his arrest, Mana refused the help of the public defender’s office and got into a dispute with a translator he said was speaking a different dialect. When he heard prosecutors were asking that he be held on $1 million bond, he told the judge through the interpreter, “you can even make it $100 million,” which Judge Michael Redman did.
But on Thursday, despite the more serious charge he now faces, Mana’s second hearing went much smoother than the first confrontational appearance. While he initially stuck by his decision to represent himself, saying he knew “what the court and the system would do” to him even if he did have an attorney, he finally relented and accepted a deputy public defender as his counsel.
That was thanks in large part to the concern showed by Chief Deputy Prosecutor Suzanne Craig and Magistrate Judge Roger Harris. When Craig was asked to call her first witness for the preliminary hearing, she instead requested that Harris once again question Mana about representing himself.
“He needs to understand that he’s going to be held at the level of an attorney and that he’s going to be up against an attorney,” Craig said.
Harris asked Mana again if he wanted a lawyer.
“I don’t see the point in getting an attorney,” Mana said through a Tigrinya interpreter. “I don’t feel like I have rights here. But if you think it would be advisable for me to have an attorney and if you want to assign one anyway, I don’t have any objections to that. I leave that up to you, your honor.”
Harris appointed the public defender’s office to represent Mana, who was then joined at the defense table by Deputy Public Defender Samuel Beus.
“I want to preserve all your rights for you, whether you believe you have any or not, because I do,” Harris told Mana. “I believe you have rights in this case, and I want to make sure they’re protected. And an attorney can help you do that.”
After the hearing, Beus credited the judge with asking someone from the public defender’s office to attend the hearing even though Mana had previously waived counsel; Harris could not be reached for comment about that decision.
“You never want to see someone go without counsel, especially in a felony case,” Beus said in the hallway outside the courtroom.
After assigning the public defender’s office to the case, Harris cleared everyone from the courtroom to give Beus a chance to speak with Mana and use the interpreter, who was patched through on a conference call. After about 15 minutes of speaking with his client in private, Beus asked for the preliminary hearing to be continued.
Mana’s preliminary hearing is now set for Aug. 26.
“I don’t feel like I have rights here. But if you think it would be advisable for me to have an attorney and if you want to assign one anyway, I don’t have any objections to that. I leave that up to you, your honor.” Mulugeta Zemu Mana, defendant
http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/magicvalley.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/69/969654fd-d146-5c22-8d89-5fcc0c688050/579bd3130bf89.image.jpg
*Mulugeta Zemu Mana, 32, of Salt Lake City
http://magicvalley.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/police-arrest-twin-falls-man-accused-in-knife-attack-behind/article_f61e4c35-7141-56b9-abad-490a8ba11723.html
Received on Fri Aug 05 2016 - 05:16:34 EDT
