Hoi Man Yung v. Hans Walker and Eliot L. Spitzer

KAPLAN, District Judge.

Respondents Hans Walker and New York Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer (collectively, the “State”) appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Robert W. Sweet, Judge) granting petitioner Hoi Man Yung a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. The District Court concluded that (1) the state trial court’s decision to close the courtroom to certain of Yung’s relatives constituted an unreasonable application of Supreme Court precedent and (2) the State was not entitled to a Nieblas hearing. See Nieblas v.…