State v. Beskurt

¶1 This case involves whether the sealing of juror questionnaires amounts to a trial closure, implicating a defendant’s federal and state constitutional rights to a public trial. In this case, questionnaires were given to and completed by prospective jurors to assist counsel injury selection and to possibly identify who would be individually questioned outside the presence of the entire venire but in open court. Several days after the jury was selected, the trial court sealed the questionnaires. On appeal, the Court of Appeals, primarily relying on its decision in State v. Coleman, 151 Wn.…