Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-93-02099/USCOURTS-ca10-93-02099-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Zuhair I. Al-Smadi
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

PUBLISH 

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JAN 2 4 1994 

TENTH CIRCUIT _____________ _.)OBE.:-~·t L . .HOSC:~ER 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

Plaintiff-Appellee, 

vs. 

ZUHAIR I. AL-SMADI a/k/a, 

Sudgi Asad, 

Defendant-Appellant. 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

) 

....,1_ • \. , ' .. 

No. 93-2099 

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW MEXICO 

(D.C. No. CR-92-240-SC) 

Submitted on the Briefs:* 

stuart L. Stein, P.A., Santa Fe, New Mexico, for 

Defendant-Appellant. 

Larry Gomez, Acting United States Attorney, and Robert J. Gorence, 

Assistant United states Attorney, Albuquerque, New Mexico, for 

Plaintiff-Appellee. 

Before MOORE, ANDERSON and KELLY, Circuit Judges. 

KELLY, Circuit Judge. 

After normal working hours, the federal courthouse in Santa 

Fe, New Mexico is closed to the public. See generally 41 C.F.R. 

S 101-20.302 (1993). Consistent with normal practice, this 

* The parties have not requested oral argument. After 

examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has 

determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially 

assist the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 

34(a); lOth Cir. R. 34.1.9. The cause therefore is ordered 

submitted .without oral argument. 

Appellate Case: 93-2099 Document: 01019669387 Date Filed: 01/24/1994 Page: 1 
occurred at 4:30 p.m. during the second day of Mr. Al -Smadi's 

five-day trial for wire fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1343. The court 

security officers failed to keep the front doors of the courthouse 

open past 4:30p.m., given that a trial was in progress. Defense 

counsel's wife and child were unable to gain access to the 

second-floor courtroom when they attempted to enter the courthouse 

after 4:30p.m. At 4:50p.m., the trial adjou rned. Mr. Al - Smadi 

appeals the district court's denial of his motion for a mistrial 

on the grounds that the closing of the courthouse denied him his 

Sixth Amendment right to a public trial. See generally Waller v. 

Georgia, 467 U.S. 39, 44-46 (1984); Davis v. Reynolds, 890 F.2d 

1105, 1109 (lOth Cir. 1989). Our jurisdiction arises under 28 

u.s.c. § 1291 and we affirm. 

The underlying facts concerning the closure as found by the 

district court will be accepted unless clearly erroneous; however, 

whether the closure violated the Sixth Amendment is a legal issue 

which we review de novo. See Nieto v . Sullivan, 879 F.2d 743, 

749-54 {lOth Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 957 (1989). Mr. 

Al-Smadi argues that, in the absence of a substantial reason to 

partially close his trial, see United States v. Galloway, 937 F.2d 

542, 545-47 (lOth Cir. 1991), the district court could not merely 

reject his Sixth Amendment claim with the maxim de minimis non 

curat lex. Aplt. App. at 20. 

The denial of a defendant's Sixth Amendment right to a public 

trial requi res some affirmative act by the trial court meant to 

exclude persons from the courtroom. See People v. Peterson, 611 

N.E.2d 284, 285 (N.Y. 1993); People v . Colon, 521 N.E.2d 1075, 

-2-

Appellate Case: 93-2099 Document: 01019669387 Date Filed: 01/24/1994 Page: 2 
1078 {N.Y . ), cert. denied, 487 U.S. 1239 (1988). The brief and 

inadvertent closing of the courthouse and hence the courtroom, 

unnoticed by any of the trial participants, did not violate the 

Sixth Amendment. Peterson, 611 N.E.2d at 285; State v. Clayton, 

514 P.2d 720, 727-28 {Ariz. ~973). Although Mr. Al-Smadi notes 

that n [t]he trial judge was silent as to what steps, if any, are 

taken by his chambers to assure that the building remains open 

when criminal trials go beyond . .. 4:30 p.m.," Aplt. Br. at 3, 

nothing indicates that the situation recurred and we are confident 

that appropriate steps will be taken to avoid it. 

AFFIRMED . 

- 3-

Appellate Case: 93-2099 Document: 01019669387 Date Filed: 01/24/1994 Page: 3