People v. Phoenix

—Mahoney, J.

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Albany County (Turner, Jr., J.), rendered January 24, 1992, upon a verdict convicting defendant of the crime of grand larceny in the fourth degree.

We are unpersuaded by defendant’s argument that he improperly was tried in abstentia. Indeed, a reading of the record leaves little room for doubt but that ample objective facts and circumstances exist to support County Court’s conclusion that defendant willfully absented himself from court in an effort to delay his trial and by so doing forfeited his constitutional right to be present at…