Lennie Perry sex trafficked teenage girls between ages 13 and 17 from 2012 to 2017, using intimidation, threats, and physical and sexual abuse to control them for sex work. After his 2018 indictment on eight counts of sex trafficking minors, Perry refused to cooperate with five court-appointed lawyers over three years, twice waived his right to counsel after comprehensive hearings, then changed his mind again once trial began.
Writing for a unanimous panel, Circuit Judge Sykes affirmed the district judge's denial of Perry's midtrial request for a sixth court-appointed lawyer. The court held that district judges have substantial discretion to enforce a waiver of counsel, especially after trial starts.
Perry argued on appeal that the trial court should have conducted a "Faretta-lite" inquiry into his midtrial change of heart, weighing factors like his motives and the delay duration. But Sykes firmly rejected this approach, writing that "nothing in our caselaw requires a mandatory colloquy to consider the defendant's motives and weigh the length of the delay—and we see no basis to impose such a requirement."
The Seventh Circuit delivered particularly sharp language about Perry's conduct throughout the case, noting he "persistently refused to work with a succession of five court-appointed lawyers" while filing "baseless claims of prosecutorial corruption and racial bias" and violating protective orders by contacting victims.
The appeals court also endorsed an alternative rationale: that courts may simply refuse to appoint endless counsel when defendants drive off their attorneys. "The Sixth Amendment does not entitle a defendant to an endless succession of appointed counsel," Sykes noted.
Perry was ultimately convicted on seven counts. Judge Edmond Chang took over the case after Judge Leinenweber died and sentenced Perry to 480 months in prison. The court appointed James Vanzant as Perry's sixth lawyer for post-trial motions and sentencing, and Andrew Finke joined as his seventh attorney for the appeal. Perry continued his disruptive pattern even on appeal, filing numerous pro se submissions that the Seventh Circuit "disregarded."