People v. Favor

OPINION OF THE COURT

Titone, J.

In People v Dokes (79 NY2d 656), this Court held that a defendant has a right to be present during the Sandoval hearing preceding the trial1 except when such presence would be "superfluous” (see, 79 NY2d, at 662). We also held that a violation of this right ordinarily requires reversal even in the absence of a timely objection (id.). Our prior holdings, however, leave open at least one important question. Although we have decided several other cases under the Dokes rule (People v Cruz, 81 NY2d 738; People v Gebrosky, 80 NY2d 995; People *259v Beasley, 80 NY2d 981;…