Opinion ID: 2575903
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Court's Refusal to Excuse Defendant From the Courtroom

Text: In a claim related to claim III, ante, defendant asserts that the trial court violated his rights to due process and to an impartial jury under the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the federal Constitution and article I, sections 7, 15, and 16 of the California Constitution when it refused to excuse him from the proceedings at his request. He maintains that the court effectively compelled him to physically disrupt the proceedings before it would excuse him from the courtroom. During voir dire, the trial court at times had permitted defendant to absent himself on request, but it was unwilling to do so during the taking of evidence. Read together, the version of section 977 [7] in effect at the time of the guilt phase trial and section 1043 provide that capital defendants may not voluntarily absent themselves during the taking of evidence at their trials unless they have disrupted the trial and the court has reason to believe the disruptive behavior will continue. As we explained in a decision that postdates defendant's trial, a capital defendant may not voluntarily waive his right to be present during . . . those portions of the trial in which evidence is taken, and . . . may not be removed from the courtroom unless he has been disruptive or threatens to be disruptive. ( People v. Jackson (1996) 13 Cal.4th 1164, 1211, 56 Cal.Rptr.2d 49, 920 P.2d 1254.) The record reflects that, during a phase of the trial at which evidence was being presented, an afternoon court session began with defendant repeatedly asking to be excused from the courtroom. The trial court told defendant to calm down, but he began to utter expletives, which left the court unmoved. Defendant asked, So I've got to do something physical to get removed? and, when the court continued to tell him to calm down, struck Roundey. The court suspended the proceedings and ordered defendant removed from the courtroom. The court explained to the jurors: A defendant cannot stop a trial. If the defendant acts up, I have no choice but to remove him. Unfortunately, I cannot remove him until he acts up, which is part of the problem. If a defendant can stop a trial, all he can do is act up. As stated in our discussion of claim III, ante, defendant cannot complain of the effects of his in-court misbehavior. This forecloses his federal and state constitutional claims. In any event, i.e., on the merits, we review a trial court's actions in controlling a disruptive defendant for an abuse of discretion. (See People v. Welch (1999) 20 Cal.4th 701, 774, 85 Cal.Rptr.2d 203, 976 P.2d 754.) None occurred. To be sure, the trial court could have acted sooner to control defendant. Section 1043 permitted the court to remove defendant when he became disruptive, and he had become disruptive before he physically lashed out at his counsel. [8] At defendant's first oral outburst, the court could have sent the jury out of the courtroom and dealt with defendant's demand outside the jury's presence. Or, without excusing the jury, it could have ruled that defendant was being disruptive and excused him, which, with the benefit of hindsight, would have spared the jury from witnessing defendant's assault and the melee that followed among defendant, court personnel, and law enforcement personnel. But the trial court was not required to remove defendant immediately the first time he disrupted the proceedings.