Professor Feeney Comments on Murder Case for Sacramento Bee
Professor Floyd Feeney commented for the Sacramento Bee on the murder trial of Marco Antonio Topete, who is charged with the 2008 slaying of a Yolo County Deputy. Topete has chosen to represent himself, which Professor Feeney explained is the right of competent defenders under the Sixth Amendment as established in the 1975 U.S. Supreme Court case Faretta v. California. But often those who act as their own attorneys are confused by the specialized rules of court, and "the results aren't particularly pretty," said Feeney.
Floyd Feeney is the Homer G. and Ann Berryhill Angelo Professor of Law at the UC Davis School of Law and the winner of the Law School's Distinguished Teaching Award in 1986 and 2008. The author of seven books and numerous articles, Feeney has received awards from the National Institute of Justice and the California Probation, Parole, and Correctional Association, and is a nationally recognized scholar on election law.