Appellant abandoned his Marsden motion where he failed to bring court’s attention to its failure to hold a hearing. Jones filed a Marsden motion asserting that his counsel failed to file a Penal Code section 995 motion which would have been meritorious. Jones was present when the trial court heard pretrial motions and discussed jury selection. The court took a waiver of Jones’s right to a trial on his prior convictions. It inadvertently failed to hold a hearing on the Marsden motion. Before the jury was brought in, the court noted that it believed it had resolved all of the issues brought before it, and gave all parties the opportunity to raise anything else. Jones was present but remained silent. Following his conviction for controlled substance offenses, Jones appealed, contending that the trial court erred in failing to conduct a hearing on his Marsden motion. The appellate court rejected the argument, finding that Jones’s failure to raise the issue before the matter proceeded to trial constituted abandonment of his claim.
Case Summaries