§ 5-625 — Absence of minor

(1) When a minor after arrest and an initial court appearance for a felony, fails to appear for trial, at the request of the State and after the State has affirmatively proven through substantial evidence that the minor is willfully avoiding trial, the court may commence trial in the absence of the minor. The absent minor must be represented by retained or appointed counsel. If trial had previously commenced in the presence of the minor and the minor is willfully absent for 2 successive court days, the court shall proceed to trial. All procedural rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution, Constitution of the State of Illinois, statutes of the State of Illinois, and rules of court shall apply to the proceedings the same as if the minor were present in court. The court may set the case for a trial which may be conducted under this Section despite the failure of the minor to appear at the hearing at which the trial date is set. When the trial date is set, the clerk shall send to the minor, by certified mail at the minor's last known address, notice of the new date which has been set for trial. The notification shall be required when the minor was not personally present in open court at the time when the case was set for trial. (2) The absence of the minor from a trial conducted under this Section does not operate as a bar to concluding the trial, to a finding of guilty resulting from the trial, or to a final disposition of the trial in favor of the minor. (3) Upon a finding or verdict of not guilty, the court shall enter a finding for the minor. Upon a finding or verdict of guilty, the court shall set a date for the hearing of post-trial motions and shall hear the motion in the absence of the minor. If post-trial motions are denied, the court shall proceed to conduct a sentencing hearing and to impose a sentence upon the minor. A social investigation is waived if the minor is absent. (4) A minor who is absent for part of the proceedings of trial, post-trial motions, or sentencing, does not thereby forfeit the minor's right to be present at all remaining proceedings. (5) When a minor who in the minor's absence has been either found guilty or sentenced or both found guilty and sentenced appears before the court, the minor must be granted a new trial or a new sentencing hearing if the minor can establish that the minor's failure to appear in court was both without the minor's fault and due to circumstances beyond the minor's control. A hearing with notice to the State's Attorney on the minors request for a new trial or a new sentencing hearing must be held before any such request may be granted. At any such hearing both the minor and the State may present evidence. (6) If the court grants only the minor's request for a new sentencing hearing, then a new sentencing hearing shall be held in accordance with the provisions of this Article. At any such hearing, both the minor and the State may offer evidence of the minor's conduct during the minor's period of absence from the court. The court may impose any sentence authorized by this Article and in the case of an extended juvenile jurisdiction prosecution the Unified Code of Corrections and is not in any way limited or restricted by any sentence previously imposed. (7) A minor whose motion under subsection (5) for a new trial or new sentencing hearing has been denied may file a notice of appeal from the denial. The notice may also include a request for review of the finding and sentence not vacated by the trial court.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 103-22, eff. 8-8-23; 103-605, eff. 7-1-24.)