A person charged with a crime has a constitutional right to proceed pro se. However, an accused who represents himself relinquishes many of the benefits associated with the right to counsel so a request to proceed pro se must be unequivocal, and made voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently. Courts indulge in every reasonable presumption against waiver of the right to counsel. State v. Swan, 2000 MT 246, ¶¶ 16-17, 301 Mont. 439, 10 P.3d 102.
To determine whether a request for self-representation was unequivocal, we review the record as a whole. State v. Swan, 2000 MT 246, ¶ 20, 301 Mont. 439, 10 P.3d 102.