Court Opinion

ID: 9738421
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:52:39.752021+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:06.026094
License: Public Domain

Kavanagh, C. J.
I dissent. The majority opinion’s statement that "there are no rights held by the defendant which his presence- would have afforded him that his counsel cannot exercise in his absence” does not comport with the requirements of the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution nor with the applicable state statute. MCLA 768.3; MSA 28.1026.
The Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments confer on the defendant the "right to be present” during the conduct of the prosecution. Illinois v Allen, 397 US 337, 342; 90 S Ct 1057; 25 L Ed 2d 353 (1970). This right to be present entitles the defendant "to give advice or suggestion or even to supersede his lawyers altogether and conduct the trial himself’. Snyder v Massachusetts, 291 US 97, 106; 54 S Ct 330; 78 L Ed 674 (1934).
The right of a criminal defendant to be present personally at all stages of the proceedings may be waived or forfeited. Illinois v Allen, supra. However a valid waiver requires "an intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right or privilege,” Johnson v Zerbst, 304 US 458, 464; 58 S Ct 1019; 82 L Ed 1461 (1938), and the waiver of a constitutional right will not be presumed from a silent record. Carnley v Cochran, 369 US 506; 82 S Ct 884; 8 L Ed 2d 70 (1962). People v Grimmett, *420388 Mich 590; 202 NW2d 278 (1972). There was no valid waiver here.
A defendant deprived of his constitutional right to be present at all stages of his trial is not required to prove prejudice.
"[T]he abrogation of defendants’ right to be present is not determined from the result and review thereof of the court’s inquiry but rather from the mere fact that during the inquiry defendants were not given an opportunity to exercise those privileges which their right to be present affords them. Where such fundamental rights are denied, the guilt or innocence of the accused is not concerned and neither party is put to the burden of showing actual injury or prejudice or the lack of it. Injury is conclusively presumed.” People v Medcoff, 344 Mich 108, 117-118; 73 NW2d 537 (1955).
The Legislature has recognized this rule of law in MCLA 768.3; MSA 28.1026:
"No person indicted for a felony shall be tried unless personally present during the trial; persons indicted or complained against for misdemeanors may, at their own request, through an attorney, duly authorized for that purpose, by leave of the court, be put on trial in their absence.” (Emphasis added).
This conviction should be set aside.