A man who represented himself at his trial on charges of violating a protective order — at times simultaneously playing witness and defense — has reportedly been found guilty and faces up to five years in prison.
According to a report in The Advocate of Stamford, Michael Nowacki, 59, of Lost District Drive, called himself to the stand and painstakingly cross-examined himself, carrying on a two-way dialog and at times referring to himself in the third person, during the bizarre two-week long trial state . He also reportedly made several inappropriate outbursts which could add to his sentence.
The scene when Nowacki was cross-examining himself was reportedly reminiscent of the courtroom scene in Woody Allen's movie "Bananas," where Allen’s character, Fielding Mellish, runs back and forth between the witness box and the defense attorney's table as he questions himself, according to the report.
Ultimately Nowacki's self-defense failed to sway Judge Bruce Hudock, who issued a guilty verdict.
As reported on , Nowacki was charged with violating a protective order on June 16, 2010 after he reportedly sent an email to his ex-wife, which he was prohibited from doing under the order. He later said he sent the email in error. He also faced charges stemming from previous .
Nowacki is reportedly scheduled to return to court for sentencing on March 20.
[Editor's Note: Attribution for some of the material referenced in this article has been updated to reflect the original source.]
