People v. Heslop

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Dowling, J.), rendered October 2, 2001, convicting him of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, 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 that he was denied his right to a public trial (see US Const 6th Amend; Civil Rights Law § 12; Judiciary Law § 4; People v Jones, 47 NY2d 409 [1979], cert denied 444 US 946 [1979]; People v Martinez, 82 NY2d 436, 441 [1993]). During a Hinton hearing…