Sims v. State

ALTENBERND, Judge.

Mr. Sims appeals his judgment and sentence for manslaughter with a firearm. Unfortunately, during his trial Mr. Sims was excluded from an in-chambers conference at which the trial judge and the assistant state attorney addressed their concerns that Mr. Sims’ attorney was impaired and unable adequately to represent Mr. Sims. Although we fully understand why the trial judge elected to hold this conference in private, Mr. Sims had a constitutional right to be present at this crucial stage of the proceeding. In this case, the closer question is whether this error requires a new…