People v. Hok Ming Chan

During the suppression hearing, a large group of Asian men was in the courtroom after the lunch recess. The court then conducted a colloquy with counsel, the prosecutor and the complainant, who was scheduled to continue with his cross-examination, about whether the spectators should be excluded from the courtroom. The court erred in conducting such an inquiry in the absence of defendants, particularly since they had "peculiar knowledge” about the identities of some of these people (People v Dokes, 79 NY2d 656, 660; People v Turaine, 78 NY2d 871), which presumably could have contributed to the…