Fugate v. Commonwealth

With a profound sense of deja vu,1 I write separately to express my opinion that the trial court erred when it conducted a pretrial competency hearing in Appellant’s absence without ascertaining whether Appellant himself knowingly, vol*23untarily, and intelligently waived his right to appear.

First, I wish to emphasize that it is beyond dispute that a pretrial competency hearing is a “critical stage of the trial”2 at which a defendant has the right to be present. In my opinion, the process of defining the source and scope of a defendant’s right to be present at pretrial competency hearings…