Summary
The Washington Supreme Court held that a trial court’s private work sessions with the defendant and counsel to review juror questionnaires for preliminary hardship excusals did not implicate the constitutional public trial right. The court emphasized that no jurors were questioned during the sessions, the hardship decisions were announced in open court, and the proceedings were not historically or logically required to be open to the public. The court affirmed the Court of Appeals and declined to revisit the structural-error doctrine.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the trial court's jury-room work sessions with counsel and Russell to review juror questionnaires for preliminary hardship excusals implicated the public trial right under article I, sections 10 and 22 of the Washington Constitution.
- Whether the court should revisit its application of the structural-error doctrine in public-trial cases.
Holdings
- The public trial right was not implicated by the trial court's work sessions in the jury room to review juror questionnaires for general hardship and administrative excusal issues.
- The court declined to reconsider its application of the structural-error doctrine because doing so was unnecessary to resolve the case.
Key quotations
“We must “consider the actual proceeding at issue for what it is, without having to force every situation into predefined factors,”” (at 731)
“The public trial right was not implicated by the work sessions the trial court held with Russell and the attorneys to review the juror questionnaires for hardship issues.” (at 733)
Factual background
After drinking alcohol, Russell drove well above the speed limit on a two-lane highway, crossed the center line, and collided with multiple vehicles. The crash killed three people and severely injured three others. During jury selection, the trial judge, counsel, and Russell reviewed written juror questionnaires in the jury room to identify prospective jurors seeking excusal for hardship, without conducting a Bone-Club analysis on the record before the work sessions.
Procedural history
Russell was convicted of three counts of vehicular homicide and three counts of vehicular assault after a jury trial. The Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions, but remanded solely to grant credit for time Russell spent detained in Ireland while challenging extradition. The Supreme Court deferred review pending decisions in related public-trial cases and then granted review limited to the public-trial issues.