| People v Jenkins |
| 2007 NY Slip Op 09418 [45 AD3d 864] |
| November 27, 2007 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
| The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v NoriJenkins, Appellant. |
—[*1] Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Leonard Joblove and Thomas M. Rossof counsel), for respondent.
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Marrus, J.),rendered March 3, 2005, convicting him of burglary in the second degree, upon a jury verdict,and imposing sentence.
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
The Supreme Court did not improvidently exercise its discretion in denying the defendant'srepeated applications for further competency examinations pursuant to CPL article 730 (seePeople v Tortorici, 92 NY2d 757, 765-766 [1999], cert denied 528 US 834 [1999];People v Morgan, 87 NY2d 878, 879-880 [1995]). The Supreme Court was entitled torely on pretrial examination reports finding the defendant fit to proceed, including one dated lessthan four months before the commencement of trial, as well as its own observations of thedefendant, in determining that further examination was unwarranted (see People vMorgan, 87 NY2d 878, 880-881 [1995]; People v Jones, 25 AD3d 809, 810 [2006]; People v Torres, 12 AD3d 539,540 [2004]; People v Felix, 2 AD3d535, 536 [2003]; People v Farhn, 300 AD2d 599 [2002]).
Contrary to the defendant's contention, the Supreme Court did not improvidently exercise itsdiscretion in denying his request to proceed pro se (see CPL 1.20 [11]). The court wasjustified in finding that the request, which was made after trial commenced and the jury wasselected and sworn, was designed to prevent the fair and orderly exposition of the issues (seePeople v [*2]McIntyre 36 NY2d 10, 17 [1974]).
Although a defendant has a fundamental right to be present at all material stages of his trial(see People v Dokes, 79 NY2d 656, 659 [1992]), he may forfeit that right by deliberatelyabsenting himself from the proceedings (see People v Brooks, 75 NY2d 898, 899 [1990];People v Sanchez, 65 NY2d 436, 443-444 [1985]). When a defendant is absent from thecourtroom after trial has begun, the court should make inquiry and recite on the record the factsand reasons it relied upon in determining that the defendant's absence was deliberate beforeproceeding in the defendant's absence (see People v Brooks, 75 NY2d at 898, 899). Therecord supports the trial court's determination that the defendant's absence was deliberate (seePeople v Green, 216 AD2d 581, 582 [1995]). Thus, the court properly proceeded with thetrial in his absence.
The defendant's remaining contentions are without merit. Goldstein, J.P., Skelos, Fisher andDillon, JJ., concur.