People v. Rivera

—Appeal by the defen*497dant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Ruchelsman, J.), rendered February 23, 1999, convicting him of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree (two counts), 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, cert denied 444 US 946), because the Supreme Court excluded his mother, girlfriend, and…