People v. Sumner

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Warren County (Moynihan, Jr., J.), rendered August 21, 1996, upon a verdict convicting defendant of the crime of rape in the first degree.

In April 1994, defendant was indicted for rape in the first degree and endangering the welfare of a child. At his arraignment on April 13, 1994, defendant was asked to sign a Parker admonishment (People v Parker, 57 NY2d 136) and was told by County Court that it "says in so many words if you don’t show up we’re going to go on without you”. Asked if he understood, defendant replied that he did. After signing the…