Court Denies McDonald’s Robbery Suspect’s Request for New Counsel

A request by one of the suspects in the robbery of the McDonald’s restaurant in Fairbury last year for new counsel was denied by the judge.Marzeanis Coleman, age 34, of Lincoln, appeared in Jefferson County District Court on Thursday, September 7, 2023, in the custody of the Sheriff’s Office. David J.A. Bargen was the presiding judge.What was intended to be a pretrial hearing instead addressed the question as to whether or not Public Defender Scott Gropp continues to represent Coleman. Gropp told the court, “Your Honor, at this time, maybe the best course of action in this is to determine if I'm still representing Mr. Coleman. As the court may be aware, there are a number of things my client has asked me to file. During our conversations, I've explained that those weren't appropriate or timely, and he has demanded that I file them anyway.”Gropp said, “So instead of sending those to me, he has begun filing them directly with the clerk of court.”Coleman's most recent filing was a Motion to Dismiss, done without his attorney.“You have indicated in the past that you are not able to hire your own attorney,” Judge Bargen said to the defendant. “That's why the public defender is assigned to your case. Are you telling the court now that you have retained other counsel?”“No, sir,” said Colemen.Bargen asked, “Are you asking that the public defender not represent you?”Coleman said, “That's correct.”Coleman asked for different court-appointed counsel. When the judge asked why, Coleman responded, “Because of the record of my case, which I was denied certain constitutional rights.”“Mr. Coleman, the courts decide what the end result is of your motions that you file, not Mr. Gropp. Mr. Gropp is trying to serve you,” said Judge Bargen. “So, if what you're telling the court is, you blame Mr. Gropp, your attorney, for…”Coleman interrupted the judge, “Yes, I blame him, because he hasn't did no due diligent of my case at all whatsoever, so I took it upon myself to do it.”Coleman said he could not afford to hire his own attorney. The judge told the defendant he would not replace Gropp with another court-appointed attorney, “If you're not hiring your own attorney, you can proceed either to represent yourself or you can proceed with having the public defender represent you. I'm not going to assign another attorney when we have a public defender that can provide representation.”Coleman said, “Well, if he's willing to move to dismiss my case, I will allow him (Gropp) to represent me.”Gropp said he would be able to file Coleman's motions as long as it was on record that it was at the behest of his client, “Well, Judge, I think maybe with that representation today, I think there would be a clean enough record now that if I filed motions that are summarily dismissed, because they're not appropriate, I don't think I will have any problem with Counsel for Discipline or any kind of action against me for filing, knowingly, what I believe are frivolous motions.”Another hearing is scheduled for Thursday, September 14, 2023.The defendant remains in custody as of press time.

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