Is a defendant entitled to a new trial if the trial court refuses to hear or rule on the motion?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. McDade, B256545 (Cal. App. 2015):

defendant shall be entitled to a new trial.'" Our Supreme Court has interpreted this statute to require a defendant seeking its protections to "promptly object and demand a new trial" if he wishes to preserve the issue for appeal. (People v. Braxton (2004) 34 Cal.4th 798, 812, 814.) "If the trial court's failure to hear or rule on the new trial motion appears to be inadvertent," as it does from the record in this case, "the defendant must make some appropriate effort to obtain the hearing or ruling." (Id. at p. 813.) "This is an application of the broader rule that a party may not challenge on appeal a procedural error or omission if the party acquiesced by failing to object or protest under circumstances indicating that the error or omission probably was inadvertent." (Ibid.) "'"In the hurry of the trial many things may be, and are, overlooked which readily have been rectified had attention been called to them. The law casts upon the party the duty of looking after his legal rights and of calling the judge's attention to any infringement of them." [Citation.]' [Citations.]" (Id. at p. 814.)

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