Downs v. Lape, No. 09-4723 (2d Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CasePetitioner appealed the district court's denial of his petition for habeas corpus brought under 28 U.S.C. 2254, which claimed a violation of his Sixth Amendment right to a public trial. The claim rested on the New York state trial judge's failure to make specific findings justifying the removal of petitioner's twelve-year-old brother from the courtroom during trial. At issue was whether New York's intermediate appellate court exorbitantly misapplied New York law when it held that petitioner failed to preserve this claim for state appellate review. The court held that the sparse record prevented it from saying definitively that defense counsel properly objected or requested that the brother remain in court. The court also held that because the New York appellate court's finding that this claim was not preserved for appellate review was an independent and adequate state ground for decision, which barred review of the claim by federal courts, the court affirmed.
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