Bradshaw v. State

In this appeal from the Superior Court we consider whether there was plain error when the defendant was absent from the courtroom both at the time his counsel, without authority, agreed to allow the trial court to give an Allen charge 1 to a deadlocked jury and also when the charge was actually given. We hold that the absence of the defendant was a violation of the right granted by Rule 43 of the Delaware Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure to be present “at every stage of the trial....” 2 Furthermore, the defendant’s counsel was incapable of waiving this right for him, and the…