A person indicted for felony shall be personally present during the trial therefor. If he refuse to plead or answer, and do not confess his guilt, the court shall have the plea of not guilty entered, and the trial shall proceed as if the accused had entered that plea, and judgment upon the verdict in any such trial shall be entered up as in cases of misdemeanor. The formal arraignment of the prisoner, the proclamation by the sheriff, and the charge of the clerk to the jury, as heretofore practiced, shall be dispensed with.
Structure West Virginia Code
Chapter 62. Criminal Procedure
Article 3. Trial of Criminal Cases
§62-3-2. Presence of Accused During Trial; Arraignment; Plea
§62-3-3. Selection of Jury in Felony Cases; Striking Jurors; Alternate Jurors
§62-3-6. Custody of Jury; Board and Lodging of Jurors; Conversation With Jurors
§62-3-7. Filling Vacancy in Jury; Discharge of Jury
§62-3-14. Conviction of Part of Offense Charged in Indictment
§62-3-15. Verdict and Sentence in Murder Cases
§62-3-16. Verdicts Jury May Find on Indictments for Homicide or Assault
§62-3-17. Verdicts Jury May Find in Prosecution for Larceny
§62-3-18. Conviction of Attempt on Trial for Felony; Effect of General Verdict of Not Guilty
§62-3-19. Faulty Counts in Indictment