By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — The personal assistant on trial for murdering celebrity realtor Linda Stein dropped a bombshell in court on Monday — she wants to replace her lawyers or represent herself.
As Natavia Lowery's trial resumed for its third week, Judge Richard Carruthers immediately denied the request, prompting an outburst from Lower's family.
"She has the right to change counsel!" Lowery's stepfather shouted as court officers removed him from the courtroom.
"This is bull s***!" a woman with him shouted.
Despite the denial, Lowery dug in.
"I want to fire my attorneys and represent myself," she said.
Carruthers said once a trial begins there must be valid reasons for wanting to represent yourself or replace your attorneys. If she was unhappy with her attorneys, she should have said something before the trial started, he said.
"The right to self representation is clearly an important right, but it is not an absolute right," Carruthers said.
Lowery said she didn’t agree with her lawyers’ decision to concede that she stole money from Stein during opening arguments.
"I was not happy with it," Lowery said. "I have a different method or theory."
Prosecutors called Lowery's request a thinly-veiled gambit to delay her trial. She's accused of beating Stein to death with a yoga stick in Stein's Fifth Avenue apartment.
"This is nothing more than gamesmanship on the part of an unhappy defendant who definitely sees the writing on the wall," said Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon.
Lowery's family retained defense lawyer Paul Brenner in the hopes of replacing Lowery's three-lawyer defense team.
Brenner will be allowed to advise Lowery but cannot serve on the defense team in an official capacity. He must sit with the general public in the courtroom and can only engage with Lowery if her present lawyers allow it.
