Criminal Justice
No defendant, no defense lawyer, no problem; trial is held and jurors convict
Prosecutors in Rochester, New York, were reluctant to try a man who didn’t show up for trial and didn’t have a lawyer there to represent him.
But that didn’t stop Judge Francis Affronti from ordering the trial of Kody McKee, accused of threatening his girlfriend in text messages and phone calls, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports. Jurors convicted McKee on Wednesday after a two-day trial.
Prosecutors “vehemently opposed” holding the trial, District Attorney Sandra Doorley told the newspaper. Holding the trial without any representative for the defense “created an appealable issue,” she said.
Affronti had warned McKee he needed to bring a new lawyer to his trial after the defendant fired his lawyer.
