8 M.J. 540 | U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review | 1979
Appellant, who absented himself from trial after arraignment, has asserted, among other things, that the military judge erred by continuing with the trial in his absence. The judge, before proceeding with the trial, determined, in accordance with paragraph 11c, Manual for Courts-Martial, 1969 (Rev.), that appellant’s absence was unauthorized and voluntary. Despite this satisfaction of the Manual rule, appellant contends that further proceedings were erroneous because he had not been informed by the judge that the trial could continue in his absence and that, therefore, his absence did not constitute an intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right, as required by Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458, 58 S.Ct. 1019, 82 L.Ed. 1461 (1938), in order to be an effective waiver.
This precise ássertion was addressed and rejected by the Supreme Court of the United States in Taylor v. United States, 414 U.S. 17, 94 S.Ct. 194, 38 L.Ed.2d 174 (1973),
The findings of guilty and sentence approved below are affirmed.
Judge PRICE and Judge MICHEL concur.