In absentia is Latin for "in the absence." In legal use it usually pertains to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings. In absentia under United States law For more than 100 years, courts in the United States have held that the United States Constitution generally requires that a criminal defendant has the right to appear in person at his or her trial as a matter of due process under the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments. In 1884, the United States Supreme Court held that the legislature has deemed it essential to the protection of one whose life or liberty is involved in a prosecution for felony, that he shall be personally present at the trial, that is, at every stage of the trial when his substantial rights may be affected by the proceedings against him. If he be deprived of his life or liberty without being so present, such deprivation would be without that du

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