John Beauge reports:
The man accused of downloading protected information of more than 1.2 million Geisinger Health System patients in 2023 will defend himself at his criminal trial.
U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann granted the motion of Max Vance to proceed pro se but assigned assistant public defender Gerald A. Lord as standby counsel.
The judge in an order issued Monday stated he determined, following a conversation, that Vance understood the nature of the charges against him and the challenges associated with relinquishing the right to an attorney.
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Vance is charged with one count of obtaining information from a protected computer (18 USC 1030).
As a reminder, this site had published details about Mr. Vance’s reported criminal history in previous coverage of the Geisinger/Nuance Communications breach.
Having been appointed a public defender, and having pleaded not guilty in this case, Vance recently filed an emergency motion to represent himself pro se (motion), and then, when it was granted, he filed a motion to transfer venue and an emergency motion to be temporarily released from prison, claiming that the prison makes it too difficult for him to file needed pre-trial motions and also, he may be in early states of a terminal illness and wishes to be released to his mother’s home or some other responsible adult. His emergency motion for temporary release cites 18 USC 3142 (i).