Washington v. Jones (Majority and Concurrence)
Annotate this CaseThis case presented questions regarding a defendant's public trial right and right to be present as applied to the designation of alternate jurors by a random drawing performed after both sides have rested at trial. The random drawing was done by the trial court's judicial assistant at a brief recess during closing arguments. Defendant Martin Jones contended that this violated his constitutional rights to a public trial and to be present at all critical stages of trial proceedings. Based on the specific facts presented by the record before us, the Washington Supreme Court held that the random drawing by the judicial assistant did not implicate Jones' public trial right. The Court also held that Jones waived his right-to-presence claim by failing to raise an objection until after the jury reached its verdict. The Court therefore affirmed in part and reversed in part the Court of Appeals, and reinstated Jones' conviction.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.