Lawyer Gets New Trial

{Louisville, Kentucky}...Friday, the Kentucky Court of Appeals granted a new trial to William Otto Ayers, who was convicted by a jury in 2010 of failing to file Kentucky tax returns from 2002 through 2006. Ayers sought to hire an attorney on the eve of his trial in Jefferson Circuit Court in Louisville after representing himself for almost two years in pre-trial proceedings, but Circuit Court Judge Susan Schultz Gibson declined to delay the trial, forcing Ayers to represent himself. The appeals court concluded that decision violated Ayers' rights.