Commonwealth v. Grant

Having been convicted by a Superior Court jury of three counts of rape in violation of G. L. c. 265, § 22, the defendant appeals, contending that various trial errors warrant reversal. He also claims that his right to a public trial was violated during the general questioning and individual voir dire stages of jury empanelment, and that the motion judge (who was also the trial judge) erred in denying his motion for a new trial without an evidentiary hearing. We agree that there was a closure, in the constitutional sense, during the individual voir dire and that the judge did not make the…