Commonwealth v. Alebord

On February 5, 2004, at the Superior Court in Brockton, the defendant was convicted by a jury of murder in the second degree for the shooting death of Benjamin Shiren. During jury empanelment the court officers closed the court room to all members of the public, as was the custom and practice at *107the time in that court. Among those excluded were Katrina Lawson, Lorraine Wilder, and William Wilder, the defendant’s friend, sister, and brother-in-law, respectively.1 The defendant did not object to the court room closure, nor did he raise any claim relating to its closure in his first motion for a…