People v. Williams

—Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Dunlop, J.), rendered March 3, 1994, convicting him of robbery in the first degree and robbery in the second degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

Ordered that the judgment is reversed, on the law, and a new trial is ordered.

A defendant’s right to be present at trial may be forfeited where he deliberately absents himself from the trial (see, People v Sanchez, 65 NY2d 436). The defendant failed to appear for jury deliberations, during which portions of the transcript were read to the jury. "Before…