Longus v. State

For the reasons stated by the Court of Special Appeals in Longus v. State, 184 Md.App. 680, 968 A.2d 140 (2009), I am persuaded that the “substantial reason” test, rather than the “overriding interest” test, should be applied to the partial courtroom closure that is at issue in the case at bar, in which only three people on the planet were excluded from the courtroom during the testimony of one witness. When Petitioner’s trial counsel did “not argue with respect to [the State’s request that the Petitioner’s father be excluded] because [the Petitioner’s father] ... may have had some…