State v. Padilla

OPINION

ALARID, Judge.

{1} This case requires us to decide whether the Rules of Criminal Procedure for the District Courts authorized the trial court to sever Defendant’s trial from that of his co-defendant, and then, after jury selection was completed in the co-defendant’s ease, to re-consolidate the trials at Defendant’s request. As we explain below, this procedure runs afoul of Rule 5-612 NMRA 2000 (1972, as amended through 1974), which prohibits the commencement of a criminal trial in the defendant’s absence. Because a defendant’s absence at the commencement of his trial is a non-waivable,…