188. Where a defendant on whom a statement of offence was duly served is deemed to have transmitted a plea of not guilty, the proceedings shall be tried and judgment rendered even in the absence of the defendant. In such a case, a witness may, should the prosecutor so choose, make his deposition at a distance using any technological means that allows the witness to be identified, heard and seen live.
Where, in addition, the prosecutor fails to attend the trial, the judge may either try the proceedings in the absence of the parties if the evidence is in the record and render judgment by default, or adjourn the trial.
1987, c. 96, a. 188; 2020, c. 122020, c. 12, s. 381.