Opinion ID: 1910074
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Claim of Denial of Right to be Present

Text: Finally, appellant argues that the trial court violated his constitutional right to be present at all proceedings, including sentencing, by amending the judgment and commitment order, outside of his presence, to add a provision for supervised release to his sentence. Appellant had filed a motion for reduction of sentence. The trial court denied the motion, without a hearing. Explaining that the court's order of three years supervised release had not been reflected on the Judgment and Commitment Order, the court amended appellant's sentence to include a supervised release condition of three years. The court also provided in its order that [i]f there is an objection to this amendment, defendant may file whatever motion he deems appropriate. Appellant filed no objection either pro se or through counsel. Subsequently, the trial court increased the time of supervised release from three to five years, again without a hearing. As reasons for its action, the trial court explained that the supervised release statute D.C.Code § 24-403.01(b)(1), (b)(2)(A) (2004), mandates a period of five years supervised release. Before amending the sentence the second time, the trial court requested that the government and appellant address whether appellant's presence was required to impose the mandatory period of supervised release. While the government and defense counsel agreed that appellant's presence was not required, appellant asserted in writing his right to be present at all case related proceedings, including sentencing. [A] defendant is constitutionally `guaranteed the right to be present at any stage of the criminal proceeding that is critical to its outcome if his [or her] presence would contribute to the fairness of the procedure.' Kimes v. United States, 569 A.2d 104, 108 (D.C.1989) (quoting Kentucky v. Stincer, 482 U.S. 730, 745, 107 S.Ct. 2658, 96 L.Ed.2d 631 (1987)) (alterations in original). This includes the right to be present at sentencing. United States v. Behrens, 375 U.S. 162, 166, 84 S.Ct. 295, 11 L.Ed.2d 224 (1963) (holding that it is error to impose a final sentence in absence of the defendant and his counsel); Kerns v. United States, 551 A.2d 1336, 1337 (D.C.1989) (Re-sentencing is de novo after vacation of illegal sentence, and therefore, the defendant has a right to be present and to allocute.); Super. Ct.Crim. R. 43(a) (The defendant shall be present . . . at every stage of the trial including . . . the imposition of a sentence, except as otherwise provided by this Rule. [10] ). This court has recognized that the right to be present upon the imposition of a sentence is a fundamental [right] which implicates the due process clause. Warrick v. United States, 551 A.2d 1332, 1334 (D.C.1988) (citing United States v. Gagnon, 470 U.S. 522, 526, 105 S.Ct. 1482, 84 L.Ed.2d 486 (1985) (per curiam)) (other citations omitted). If a defendant is absent involuntarily, and a constitutional right to be present is at issue, this court will reverse unless the government proves the defendant's absence was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Kimes, 569 A.2d at 110 (citing Kleinbart v. United States, 553 A.2d 1236, 1240 (D.C.1989)) (other citations omitted). Appellant argues that his sentence was increased in violation of his right to be present twice, first by adding three years of supervised release and later by increasing the sentence to five years of supervised release. The government argues that the trial court simply corrected an illegal sentence, which it can do in appellant's absence without infringing upon any constitutionally or statutorily protected rights. Further, the government contends that the error, if any, was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt because the court was obligated to correct the sentence, and there was nothing that appellant could say or do to change that. Although a defendant has a right to be present at sentencing, a defendant's presence is not required [w]hen the proceeding involves a . . . correction of sentence under [Super. Ct.Crim. R.] 35. Super. Ct.Crim. R. 43(c)(4); Wells v. United States, 469 A.2d 1248, 1250 (D.C.1983) (where the trial court vacated sentence for one count and reimposed the original sentences on other counts, defendant's presence not required for correction or reduction of sentence under Super. Ct.Crim. R. 35(a)) (citation omitted). Unlike this case, Wells resulted in a reduction of the defendant's sentence by three years. Id. at 1249. Generally, when the terms of the new sentence are made more onerous, a correction of sentence under Rule 35(a) will require the defendant's presence. [11] United States v. Pineda, 988 F.2d 22, 23 (5th Cir.1993) (a correction of sentence under Rule 35 is not a re-sentencing requiring a defendant's presence provided the modification does not make the sentence more severe); accord United States v. Jackson, 923 F.2d 1494, 1497 (11th Cir. 1991); Rust v. United States, 725 F.2d 1153, 1154 (8th Cir.1984) (citation omitted). The imposition of an additional term of release added a more onerous condition. Therefore, these cases are persuasive authority supporting appellant's right to be present. The government argues that the imposition of a longer term upon correction under Rule 35 does not affect the analysis. It cites as authority for this argument Prince v. United States, 432 A.2d 720 (D.C.1981). However, Prince holds only that a sentence may be corrected under Rule 35 even if it increases the punishment. Id. at 721-22. It does not address whether a defendant has a right to be present for correction of sentence under the circumstances presented here. Finally, the government argues that since the trial court had no discretion but to correct the illegal sentence by imposing the mandatory period of supervised release, appellant's presence could not have affected the outcome. For this reason, it contends, appellant's presence was not required. The Supreme Court has stated that the presence of a defendant is a condition of due process only to the extent that a fair and just hearing would be thwarted by his absence and to that extent only. Gagnon, supra, 470 U.S. at 526, 105 S.Ct. 1482 (citation omitted). The defendant has no right to be present when presence would be useless, or the benefit but a shadow. Snyder v. Massachusetts, 291 U.S. 97, 106-07, 54 S.Ct. 330, 78 L.Ed. 674 (1934), overruled on other grounds, Malloy v. Hogan, 378 U.S. 1, 84 S.Ct. 1489, 12 L.Ed.2d 653 (1964); Kimes, supra, 569 A.2d at 108 (summarizing a defendant's right to be present at criminal proceeding critical to its outcome if his [or her] presence would contribute to the fairness of the procedure) (quoting Stincer, supra, 482 U.S. at 745, 107 S.Ct. 2658 (in turn quoting Snyder, 291 U.S. at 105-06, 54 S.Ct. 330)). The government is correct that the trial court had no alternative but to impose a five year period of supervised release as required by D.C.Code § 24-403.01(b)(1), (b)(2)(A). While the court had no discretion with respect to that aspect of the sentence, the court retained discretion to consider whether the length of incarceration previously imposed remained appropriate in light of the lengthy term of supervised release required. At a new sentencing hearing, appellant could have argued that a decrease in the time of incarceration was warranted because of the lengthy term of supervised release that had to follow. Thus, we do not agree that the circumstances left the trial court without discretion or appellant without any meaningful way to contribute to the fairness of the procedure. Under the circumstances, we conclude that appellant was entitled to an opportunity to allocute. See Kerns, supra, 551 A.2d at 1338. Nevertheless, the error was harmless in this case, see Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967), because: (1) the sentence correction affects only a mandatory release provision; (2) the trial court was aware of the requirement to impose a release term at the time of sentencing, being mistaken only as to its term; and (3) in denying the motion to reduce, the trial court made clear that the original sentence was lenientleaving no reasonable possibility that the court would have reduced the term of incarceration further. For the foregoing reasons, the case is remanded to the trial court with instructions to vacate the ADW conviction, the merged offense. In all other respects, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed. So ordered.