Opinion
2013-01-22
The PEOPLE of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Charlie JONES, Defendant–Appellant.
Steven Banks, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Jeffrey Dellheim of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Ellen Stanfield Friedman of counsel), for respondent.
Steven Banks, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Jeffrey Dellheim of counsel), for appellant. Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Ellen Stanfield Friedman of counsel), for respondent.
FRIEDMAN, J.P., RENWICK, MANZANET–DANIELS, ROMÁN, CLARK, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (William Wetzel, J.), rendered December 19, 2007, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of burglary in the first degree (four counts), robbery in the first degree (three counts) and attempted robbery in the second degree, and sentencing him, as a persistent violent felony offender, to an aggregate term of 50 years to life, unanimously affirmed.
There was no violation of defendant's right to be present at trial. After a thorough hearing, the court properly determined that defendant forfeited his right to be present by deliberately absenting himself from the proceedings ( see People v. Brooks, 75 N.Y.2d 898, 899, 554 N.Y.S.2d 818, 553 N.E.2d 1328 [1990];People v. Sanchez, 65 N.Y.2d 436, 443–444, 492 N.Y.S.2d 577, 482 N.E.2d 56 [1985] ). The record unequivocally establishes that defendant, a chronic malingerer, deliberately caused his own absence ( see People v. Cooks, 28 A.D.3d 362, 812 N.Y.S.2d 529 [2006],lv. denied7 N.Y.3d 787, 821 N.Y.S.2d 817, 854 N.E.2d 1280 [2006] ), and that regardless of whether defendant's alleged overdose of medication was feigned or actual, defendant intended to absent himself from the balance of his ongoing trial. Accordingly, the court was entitled to continue the trial in defendant's absence.