Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-13-2002

Abstract

Petitioner-appellant Andrew Brown appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Sifton, J.) denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus brought pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. In 1995, Brown was sentenced in the New York State Supreme Court, Queens County, to a prison term of between nine and eighteen years after a jury found him guilty of sale of a controlled substance in the third degree and sale of a controlled substance on or near school grounds in violation of New York Penal Law sections 220.39(1) and 220.44(2). In his pro se petition to the district court, Brown contended, inter alia,that his Sixth Amendment right to a public trial was violated when the state court "clear[ed] the Courtroom" during the testimony of an undercover officer. The district court denied the petition, but granted Brown's motion for a certificate of appealability on the sole question of whether his Sixth Amendment right to a public trial was violated. Because the state court's decision to close the courtroom during the testimony of the undercover officer was not "contrary to, [n]or [did it] involve[] an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States," we affirm.

Comments

283 F.3d 492 (2002)

Andrew BROWN, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Christopher ARTUZ, Superintendent, Respondent-Appellee.

Docket No. 00-2516.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Submitted September 13, 2001.Decided March 13, 2002.

New York Law School location: File #3001, Box #143

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