Wayland Lynn Dilts v. Michigan
HabeasCorpus Privacy
Whether Petitioner's Sixth Amendment right to a public trial was violated
QUESTION(S) PRESENTED During Petitioner's jury trial, in state court, the prosecutor requested that the trial court "close the courtroom! For that reason, the trial court then completely closed the courtroom to the public during the testimony of five prosecution witnesses. No evidence of any kind was ever presented to the trial court supporting the need for a courtroom closure. The trial court never gave a reason as to why it closed the courtroom. The prosecutor asked, and for that reason : alone, Petitioner's trial was nonpublic. The question's are: 1. Whether Petitioner's Sixth Amendment right to a public trial was violated when the courtroom was closed to the public during his jury trial, 2. Whether the closure was a so serious that it . rendered Petitioner's trial fundamentally unfair, 3. Whether Petitioner's trial was the type of 'Secret-Trial' that this Court and the Sixth Amendment seeks to prevent, 4, Whether Petitioner is entitled to a NEW TRIAL. * ~ *