Sorrell v. State

BLACKWELL, Judge.

When the jurors returned from lunch during the criminal trial of Ernest Leon Sorrell (Sorrell), Mr. Sorrell decided not to join them. We now consider whether the court properly instructed the jury that it might infer consciousness of guilt from the defendant’s voluntary absence from a trial he was legally obligated to attend.

I

Sorrell was charged in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County with robbery, theft and battery. At trial on the morning of May 18, 1986, the State’s first witness identified Sorrell as the person who assaulted and robbed him of his watch, money and…