State v. Michael Hayes (A-13-10)
Under the circumstances, a short adjournment should
have been granted to permit Hayes to obtain conflictfree
counsel to advance his application to withdraw
his guilty pleas. Because Hayes was required to
proceed without counsel, a fair and informed judgment
of whether he should have been allowed to withdraw his
pleas cannot be reached. The case is remanded to the
trial court for a properly counseled Slater hearing,
to be conducted under the “interests of justice” presentencing
burden of proof codified in Rule 3:9-3(e). 3-31-11
