People v. Jones

Summary

The Colorado Supreme Court held that excluding the defendant’s parents during the testimony of two of his children constituted a partial courtroom closure violating the defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to a public trial. Because the trial court made no findings under Waller v. Georgia before the closure, and the error was structural, the defendant was entitled to a new trial. The court also vacated the child-abuse conviction under the rule of lenity and held that the defendant could not be retried on that charge.

Holdings

1. The exclusion of Jones's parents during the children's testimony was a partial closure of the courtroom implicating Jones's Sixth Amendment right to a public trial.
2. The public-trial violation was structural error requiring automatic reversal, and the error could not be cured by remand for additional Waller findings in this case.
3. The term "person" in Colorado's child abuse statute does not include an unborn fetus who is later born alive when the alleged injury was inflicted in utero.
4. Jones could not be retried for child abuse based on the alleged prenatal injuries because the statute does not encompass a fetus later born alive and lenity barred the broader criminal interpretation.

Questions Presented

1. Whether excluding the defendant's parents from the courtroom during the testimony of two children constituted a partial courtroom closure implicating the Sixth Amendment right to a public trial.
2. Whether the trial court's failure to make the findings required by Waller v. Georgia could be remedied by remand for additional findings.
3. Whether the Colorado child abuse statute's term "person" includes a fetus injured in utero who is later born alive.
4. Whether the rule of lenity barred retrial on the child abuse charge.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded