tracing the right of criminal defendants to a public trial in Maryland to its common law roots, and noting that the right to “[t]he openness of criminal trials also finds penumbral support in Article 21 of the [Maryland] Declaration of Rights”
How later courts described this case
- tracing the right of criminal defendants to a public trial in Maryland to its common law roots, and noting that the right to “[t]he openness of criminal trials also finds penumbral support in Article 21 of the [Maryland] Declaration of Rights”
- holding that the petitioner's trial attorney had the right, as a member of the public, to challenge a courtroom closure on the public's behalf
- holding that trial judges have no authority beyond what is permitted by Rule 4-261 to order depositions in criminal cases
- "[I]n those situations when a trial judge reasonably should recognize that an apparent or obvious misuse of sequestration may be afoot, the judge has the right and responsibility, even absent an objection by a party, to inquire and make any required findings or take action as may be appropriate to the circumstances.”
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
RODOWSKY, Judge,
concurring.
I join in the judgment of the Court substantially for the reasons set forth in Part IV of the Court’s opinion. Even if the trial court in Sellers’ case should not have excluded Petitioner’s counsel, the right infringed was that of Sellers or of Tharp’s attorney, personally. The exclusion, if wrongful, was not an error in Tharp’s trial.