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Ark. Code Ann. § 16-89-103

Presence of defendant

Applied in 9 court decisions — leading case Bell v. State (1988)

Most recently applied in Dowdy v. State (February 2015)

Crim

How often courts cite this section

1988199020002010201540
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) If the indictment is for a felony, the defendant must be present during the trial.

(2) If he or she escapes from custody after the trial has commenced or is present at the beginning of the trial and then causes himself or herself to be unable to appear at trial or if on bail shall absent himself or herself during the trial, the trial may either be stopped or progress to a verdict at the discretion of the court.

(3) This provision shall apply in all instances except where the death penalty is sought.

(4) However, judgment shall not be rendered until the presence of the defendant is obtained.

(5) If the indictment is for a misdemeanor, the trial may be had in the absence of the defendant.

Current official text: Arkansas General Assembly. Digitized from the UniCourt Code Improvement Commission public-domain capture. Reproduced from public-domain Arkansas statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.