People v. Muniz

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (George Daniels, J.), rendered July 22, 1996, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree (3 counts), and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to concurrent terms of 6 to 12 years, unanimously affirmed.

After a Hinton hearing, the court ruled that the People had made a sufficient showing to warrant closure of the courtroom during the undercover officer’s testimony. However, rather than *139actually closing the courtroom the court decided, sua sponte, to post a court officer outside the…