United States Supreme Court

In a murder case where a courtroom could not accommodate all the potential jurors, members of the public were excluded from the courtroom, including the petitioner's mother and minister, the petitioner argued ineffective assistance of counsel in failing to object to the courtroom closure. Although the court found that the violation of the right to a public trial was a structural error, the decision was affirmed since the issue wasn't raised on direct review and the court found that the error was not prejudicial and therefore did not entitle the petitioner to a new trial.

Appellate Information

• Published 2017/06/22

Judges

• KENNEDY

Court

• United States Supreme Court

Counsel