People v. DeJesus

—Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Gary, J.), rendered November 5, 1998, convicting him of criminal sale of a controlled substance in or near school grounds, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

Ordered that the judgment is reversed, on the law, and a new trial is ordered.

The defendant contends, and the People correctly concede, that he was denied his right to a public trial (see, US Const 6th Amend; Civil Rights Law § 12; Judiciary Law § 4), because the trial court excluded his fiancée from the courtroom during the testimony of the undercover…