Sol Shearn Rovinsky v. Dan v. McKaskle Acting Director, Texas Department of Corrections, Respondent

ALVIN B. RUBIN, Circuit Judge:

Without advancing any reasons for doing so, a state court conducting a criminal trial held a hearing in chambers on the state’s motion to restrict the cross-examination of a prosecution witness despite the defendant’s objection to the procedure as violating *199his right to a public trial, imminent in the process due him under the fourteenth amendment. Following the defendant’s conviction, a federal district court denied him a writ of habeas corpus. Reversing the district court, we hold that the right to a public trial specifically guaranteed by the sixth amendment…