People v. Martinez

—Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Leach, J.), rendered April 9, 1996, convicting him of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

*709Ordered that the judgment is reversed, on the law, and a new trial is ordered.

The defendant was denied his right to a public trial (see, US Const 6th Amend; Civil Rights Law § 12; Judiciary Law § 4) when the trial court closed the courtroom to the public during an undercover police officer’s testimony. The officer’s testimony at the Hinton hearing (see, People…