No. 19-5890

Fernando Cabral-Varela v. Massachusetts

Lower Court: Massachusetts
Docketed: 2019-09-10
Status: Denied
Type: IFP
Response WaivedIFP
Tags: constitutional-law constitutional-rights courtroom-access courtroom-closure criminal-procedure due-process public-trial sixth-amendment structural-error witness-intimidation
Key Terms:
Environmental SocialSecurity Securities Immigration
Latest Conference: 2019-10-11
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Did the judge deprive the Petitioner of his right to a public trial under the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTION PRESENTED The trial judge barred the Petitioner’s nephew from the courtroom for the final three days of trial due to concerns of witness intimidation. The question is: Where there was no risk of witness intimidation for most, if not all, of the Commonwealth’s witnesses for the final three days, did the judge deprive the Petitioner of his right to a public trial under the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?

Docket Entries

2019-10-15
Petition DENIED.
2019-09-26
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/11/2019.
2019-09-18
Waiver of right of respondent Commonwealth of Massachusetts to respond filed.
Main Document
2019-09-03
Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due October 10, 2019)
Motion for Leave to Proceed in Forma PauperisPetitionAppendixProof of Service

Attorneys

Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Thomas Edward Bocian — Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General, Respondent
Thomas Edward Bocian — Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General, Respondent
Fernando Cabral-Varela
Justin Lee Drechsler — The Law Offices of Justin Drechsler, P.C., Petitioner
Justin Lee Drechsler — The Law Offices of Justin Drechsler, P.C., Petitioner