under our law, the standard for competency to go to trial or even to represent one self, at least in the noncapital cases, if you know what the judge does, the prosecution does, if you know what the defense does, you can have a serious mental illness but you can still be found competent to represent yourself and stand trial. >> george, this idea that he is standing there in that courtroom representing himself in the death penalty phase of this federal hate crimes trial, how unprecedented is that? >> this is a very rare event. i've been doing this work for almost four decades now and i think i've seen maybe a handful of these in four decades. they are flying without gps now. the supreme court has never said in a capital case the defendant can waive all legal representation at the punishment phase and it's a very troubling