Man representing himself in robbery trial takes a plea

A man who was acting as his own lawyer ended his robbery trial with a plea Monday, on the day that he was expecting to cross-examine in a Mineola courtroom the victim whose face authorities said he slashed with a box cutter.

Wayne Speaks, 48, of Uniondale, pleaded guilty to several counts of robbery, assault and weapons charges in exchange for a 9-year prison term. He had faced up to 25 years in prison if convicted on the top charge in connection with a July 2012 attack at a Freeport motel that prosecutors said left the victim disfigured.

Garden City attorney John Healy, who acted as Speaks' legal adviser, said later that the defendant knew the victim was expected to testify Monday.

"Some of the defenses he had thought were going to go very much in his favor weren't necessarily going in the way he thought they would," Healy said of Speaks' plea decision. "So I think as the trial wore on, it became apparent to him that maybe he should take the plea."

In a statement, Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice said the guilty plea "will mean that this defendant will not be a threat to the public for a significant period of time."

Prosecutors had told jurors that Speaks attacked Robert Payton, 48, of Amityville, after Payton went to a motel with a woman he met through backpage.com. He was willing to pay for sex with her, prosecutors said.

Authorities said Speaks burst into the motel room with co-defendant Robert Dixon -- who pleaded not guilty and faces a separate trial -- and attacked Payton with a boxcutter.

Dixon, who had a gun, also hit Payton and knocked out some of his teeth, Assistant District Attorney Jesse Aviram said in court.

Authorities said the two men then made off with the victim's phone, $200 cash and his driver's license, fleeing in the same vehicle as the woman who had been with Payton. Authorities identified her as Wendi Seletsky and said she pleaded guilty to an assault charge.

Aviram also had told jurors Seletsky had texted Speaks before the attack to say Payton was a "fake pimp" who was holding her hostage and threatening rape. He said Payton wasn't honest at first with authorities about how he met Seletsky.

Speaks had attacked Payton's credibility in his opening statement, telling jurors that the man was a liar.

Acting state Supreme Court Justice Meryl Berkowitz had warned Speaks repeatedly that she wouldn't teach him to try a case, while also reminding jurors that Speaks' opening statement wasn't sworn testimony.

"Your trial has now been finished, and we are ready to go celebrate Thanksgiving," she told jurors Monday after taking Speaks' plea.

Berkowitz will sentence him on Jan. 9.