Eric Presley v. Georgia (558 U.S. 209)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided January 19, 2010 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 558 U.S. 209 · 130 S. Ct. 721
- Decided
- January 19, 2010
- Term
- October Term 2009
- Vote
- 7–2
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Per Curiam. After a jury trial in the Superior Court of DeKalb County, Georgia, petitioner Eric Presley was convicted of a cocaine trafficking offense. The conviction was affirmed by the Supreme Court of Georgia. 285 Ga. 270, 674 S. E. 2d 909 (2009). Presley seeks certiorari, claiming his Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment right to a public trial was violated when the trial court excluded the public from the voir dire of prospective jurors. The Supreme Court of Georgia’s affirmance contravened this Court's clear precedents. Certiorari and petitioner’s motion for leave to proceed in forma pawperis are now granted, and the judgment is reversed. Before selecting a jury in Presley’s trial, the trial court noticed a lone courtroom observer. Id., at 270-271, 674 S. E. 2d, at 910. The court explained that prospective jurors were about to enter and instructed the man that he was not allowed in the courtroom and had to leave that floor of the courthouse entirely. Id., at 271, 674 S. E. 2d, at 910. The court then questioned the man and learned he was Presley’s uncle. Ibid. The court reiterated its instruction: “Well, you still can’t sit out in the audience with the jurors. You know, most of the afternoon actually we’re going to be picking a jury. And we may have a couple of pre-trial matters, so you’re welcome to come in after we ... complete selecting the jury this afternoon. But,…
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