People v. Young

Defendant was convicted, after bench trial, of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Section 115-10 hearing on State's motion to admit minor victims' out-of-court statements was a critical stage and Defendant had a right to attend hearing in person, but the court's viewing of DVDs of those statements, when Defendant was not present, was not a critical stage of trial, and thus he was bound by his counsel's waiver of objection to court viewing DVDs outside presence of Defendant. Defendant's statements were musings about what would happen if he invoked his right to counsel and insufficient to invoke his right to counsel.(POPE and HOLDER WHITE, concurring.)