Can a defendant waive his right to be personally present at a dangerousness hearing?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Ramirez, A148437 (Cal. App. 2017):

Section 977, subdivision (b)(1) provides, "In all cases in which a felony is charged, the accused shall be personally present at the arraignment, at the time of plea, during the preliminary hearing, during those portions of the trial when evidence is taken before the trier of fact, and at the time of the imposition of sentence. The accused shall be personally present at all other proceedings unless he or she shall, with leave of court, execute in open court, a written waiver of his or her right to be personally present . . . ." In addition, " '[d]ue process guarantees the right to be present at any "stage . . . that is critical to [the] outcome" and where the defendant's "presence would contribute to the fairness of the procedure." ' [Citation.] The state constitutional right to be present at trial, which is guaranteed by article I of the California Constitution, ' "is generally coextensive with the federal due process right." ' [Citation.] As a matter of both federal and state constitutional law, however, a defendant may validly waive his or her right to be present during a critical stage of the trial, provided the waiver is knowing, intelligent, and voluntary." (People v. Cunningham (2015) 61 Cal.4th 609, 633.) We will assume

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appellant had a statutory and constitutional right to be present at the hearing regarding dangerousness.3

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