With judge's warnings, man goes to trial as his own lawyer

Nassau County jail inmate Wayne Speaks arrived in a Mineola court Tuesday carrying a thick file and wearing a business suit and handcuffs.

But after the cuffs came off, Speaks, 48, of Uniondale, who has no law degree, began defending himself in a trial on robbery and assault charges.

Authorities said the charges stem from a July 2012 Freeport box-cutter attack that disfigured another man's face.

"I am not going to teach you to try a case," Acting State Supreme Court Justice Meryl Berkowitz warned Speaks, not for the last time, before jurors took their seats.

But Speaks proceeded with his defense, with a lawyer beside him for advice.

Authorities contend that Speaks and a co-defendant attacked Robert Payton, 48, of Amityville after Payton went to a motel with a woman he was willing to pay for sex after meeting her through an online ad.

Assistant District Attorney Jesse Aviram said the attack happened minutes after the victim and Wendi Seletsky went into a South Main Street motel room as she used a cellphone.

He said Speaks and co-defendant Robert Dixon -- who is being tried separately -- soon burst into the room. Speaks then slashed the victim's face and leg, and Dixon, who had a gun, hit the man in the mouth and knocked out teeth, Aviram said. The two men then fled with the victim's phone, $200 in cash and his driver's license, authorities charge.

Aviram also said Seletsky -- whom authorities said pleaded to an assault charge -- sent Speaks text messages leading up to the attack that called Payton a "fake pimp" and said he was holding her hostage and threatening to rape her. The prosecutor said Payton wasn't honest at first about how he met Seletsky.

Speaks, in his opening statement, called the victim a liar. The judge had to interrupt Speaks to remind him he wasn't testifying.

"Anything he says is not sworn testimony," Berkowitz told jurors, something she repeated later.

The trial continues Wednesday.