United States v. Jason Simmons

OPINION

COLE, Chief Judge.

During Jason Simmons’s criminal trial for drug conspiracy, the government moved to exclude three of Simmons’s co-defendants from the courtroom during the testimony of one of its witnesses. The government argued that, due to certain comments made by Simmons and other individuals outside the courtroom, the presence of the three co-defendants might make the witness feel uncomfortable and intimidated even though the government conceded that none of the statements were threatening and that it did not know whether they were made by any of the three co-defendants it sought…