A registered sex offender accused of raping a 15-year-old girl he met through a sugar daddy website in 2015 will be allowed to represent himself in court, a judge ruled Wednesday.
As his own attorney, Fred Lucius Jr., would have the right to question the girl during a pretrial deposition, though he might not be able to do so in person.
“I believe that I’m competent to represent myself,” Lucius told Judge Mark Blechman. “I know I need more time at the Orange County legal library.”
He said he graduated from high school and took a few college-level mathematics classes but has no formal legal training.
Defendants in Florida do have a right to represent themselves in court, though they are not entitled to any extra privileges or help from judges during their trials.
Lucius, 34, faces a mandatory minimum of 50 years in prison if convicted of sexual battery of a minor. He is being held in the Orange County Jail.
Lucius has been a registered sex offender since a conviction for lewd and lascivious battery of a minor between the ages of 12 and 15 stemming from a 2007 incident, records show. He was released from prison in 2012.
In 2015, the girl told officials she met Lucius through a website called sugardaddyforme.com. He gave her a set of rules he said she had to follow, like calling him “Sir” and not wearing certain items of clothing. She took the SunRail to meet him in downtown Orlando, he took her to a nearby home on a motorcycle and allegedly assaulted her.
The girl lives outside Orange County, and the deposition must be conducted in the county where she lives. Lucius facetiously asked Blechman to release him from jail on his own recognizance so that he could attend the deposition in person. Blechman declined.
Lucius may be allowed to conduct the deposition by phone, though jail officials would have to agree to the arrangement. He would be allowed to ask her only about the case.
He did not say in court why he wanted to represent himself, but agreed to keep his former court-appointed public defender, Beth Bourdon, as a stand-by attorney. That means Bourdon will sit in the courtroom during his trial, but will not make any motions or assist him in any way unless he decides to relinquish his right to represent himself.
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