U.S. Supreme Court – Edward Lawson won it! from Picture America on Vimeo.

Harold Stewart, a high school dropout accused of beating a man to death with a baseball bat, represented himself at trial. And won. Maryland jurors acquitted him last month after deliberating less than an hour, the Washington Post reported. He had hired an attorney, but they withdrew after Stewart refused to head his advice about accepting a plea deal.

The case reminded me of Edward Lawson , who successfully represented himself on appeal in California. He challenged a law that allowed the police to stop anyone and demand ID, even absent any suspicion of a crime. An appellate court overturned his conviction, and when the state of California appealed the ruling, Lawson defended himself all the way up to the Supreme Court and won.