Opinion ID: 1697707
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Absence From Conferences

Text: Bigham next argues that his absence from certain pretrial conferences violated his right to a fair trial. However, he makes no attempt to demonstrate prejudice or to otherwise demonstrate that anything substantive took place at the hearings. The State notes the incidents were hearings for the defense's motions to continue and a status conference where defense counsel spoke to Bigham, who waived his right to appear, just prior to appearing. No objections by the defense to the proceedings were ever lodged in the trial court. This Court has held that although adherence to the rule requiring a waiver of defendant's appearance has not always been followed, a defendant may nonetheless waive his right to appear either through trial counsel or by later acquiescence to the outcome of the missed portion. Muhammad v. State, 782 So.2d 343 (Fla.2001); see also Wike v. State, 813 So.2d 12 (Fla.2002). While the State admits that these waivers were not in writing, it argues that the conferences were not critical and that Bigham did not preserve the issue because he appeared before the same judge shortly thereafter without raising an objection to his absence from previous conferences. We agree and find that any possible error was harmless under these circumstances.