Can My Criminal Lawyer Appear in Court Without Me in California?

00:01 Can your criminal defense attorney go to court without you in California? So yes

00:06 and no. So in 90% of misdemeanor cases your criminal defense attorney can show

00:14 up to court without you without you being present and they appear on your

00:18 behalf under penal code section 977A. And I say 90% because in some cases the

00:25 judge can still order the defendant to be in court and that's discretionary

00:29 from the judge. So no attorney can circumvent the judge's order. In felony

00:35 cases 90% of the time you have to be present with your attorney at every

00:41 appearance for felony cases. However under penal code section 977B the court

00:47 does give authority to the attorney to appear on their clients behalf on 977B

00:52 matters and on the things that they can appear for you for include non-essential

00:59 hearings meaning maybe just to continue the case or things like that but you'd

01:03 still have to be present at arraignment still have to be present at dispo at

01:07 sentencing perhaps there's a restraining order so at the service of the

01:12 restraining order just a little bit more strict in felony land but as long as you

01:16 get a 977B waiver from your attorney and the judge allows your attorney to appear

01:21 on your behalf that can happen in felonies as well. So it just depends

01:26 classic lawyer answer but in most misdemeanors yes and in some felonies

01:31 also yes.