Baker v. Utecht

Appellant seeks his release by habeas corpus from the Minnesota state prison, where he is under conviction and sentence 'by a court of that State for the offense of sodomy. The District Court denied his application for a writ.

The only substantial federal question raised by the application is appellant’s charge that he was convicted without due process as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment, in that he was not given a public trial.1 It appears that the trial court ordered the court room cleared during the testimony of the prosecuting witness, a girl 13 years old, and that of her mother, as…