People v. Rodriguez

OPINION OF THE COURT

Cipabick, J.

On this appeal, we must decide whether defendant’s presence was required at a side-bar conference held outside his earshot to determine whether his direct testimony had "opened the door” to cross-examination about the underlying facts of a prior conviction. Such questioning had been precluded pursuant to a pretrial Sandoval ruling. We conclude that the side-bar conference was not a material stage of the trial requiring defendant’s presence since the only question discussed was a legal one. We thus affirm.

Defendant was arrested and charged with criminal sale of…