Supreme Court of California

A defendant in custody who refused to leave a court lockup facility to attend his trial was "voluntarily absent" under Penal Code section 1043(b)(2), thus the trial court need not have obtained the defendant's express waiver of the right to be present at trial.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/06/2003
• Published 03/06/2003

Judges

• CHIN, J.

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
•  Tracy J. Dressner, La Crescenta, under appointment by the Supreme Court, and Maureen J. Shanahan, Malibu, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant., Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, David P. Druliner and Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorneys General, Marc E. Turchin, Acting Assistant  Attorney General, Pamela C. Hamanaka, Assistant Attorney General, Robert F. Katz, Karla Cottis and David C. Cook, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.