Ayala v. Speckard

Contrary to the majority, I believe that the Supreme Court’s four-prong test set forth in Waller v. Georgia, 467 U.S. 39, 48, 104 S.Ct. 2210, 2216-1-7, 81 L.Ed.2d 31 (1984), requires a trial judge to consider sua sponte alternatives to courtroom closure in a case where alternatives are not suggested by a party otherwise objecting to closure. This interpretation obeys the mandatory language of the Supreme Court’s third Waller factor that “the trial court must consider reasonable alternatives to closing the proceeding,” id. (emphasis added), and fulfills the requirement of the second Waller…