Habeas Corpus – Waiver Of Right To Be Present At Trial

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Where (1) the present petitioner was convicted of first-degree murder by a Massachusetts Superior Court jury, (2) on later appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court, the petitioner argued that the trial judge violated his constitutional rights by allowing him to waive his right to be present at trial, (3) the SJC affirmed his conviction, ruling that the trial judge had not acted impermissibly in permitting the petitioner to absent himself voluntarily and knowingly from his trial, (4) the petitioner then sought habeas corpus relief in federal court and (5) a federal judge denied the petition, we hold that the petition denial should stand undisturbed, as the decision of the SJC upholding the petitioner’s conviction was neither contrary to, nor an unreasonable application of, clearly established federal law.

“In [petitioner Wayne R.] L’Abbe’s trial the judge gave voice to L’Abbe’s choice to absent himself from the trial. The SJC recognized that in the circumstances of this case, there was no reason to limit the right of a voluntary and knowing waiver of presence to noncapital defendants. There was nothing unreasonable about the extension of the principle of waiver of presence, well-established in the noncapital context, to this capital case. Accordingly, the district court’s decision denying the writ is affirmed.”

L’Abbe v. DiPaolo (Lawyers Weekly No. 01-314-02) (12 pages) (Lipez, J.) (1st Circuit) Appealed from a judgment entered by O’Toole, J., in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Alan Jay Black for the petitioner-appellant; Annette C. Benedetto, with whom Thomas F. Reilly and David O’Sullivan were on brief, for the respondent-appellee (Docket No. 01-2557).