Opinion
Submitted June 9, 2000.
July 3, 2000.
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Gary, J.), rendered November 5, 1998, convicting him of criminal sale of a controlled substance in or near school grounds, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.
M. Sue Wycoff, New York, N.Y. (Deepa Rajan of counsel), for appellant.
Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Leonard Joblove and Jodi L. Mandel of counsel), for respondent.
Before: LAWRENCE J. BRACKEN, J.P., FRED T. SANTUCCI, LEO F. McGINITY, SANDRA J. FEUERSTEIN, JJ.
DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the judgment is reversed, on the law, and a new trial is ordered.
The defendant contends, and the People correctly concede, that he was denied his right to a public trial (see, US Const. 6th Amend; Civil Rights Law § 12; Judiciary Law § 4), because the trial court excluded his fiancée from the courtroom during the testimony of the undercover officer. At the hearing conducted pursuant to People v. Hinton, 31 N.Y.2d 71, cert denied 410 U.S. 911, the People failed to establish that the defendant's fiance´e posed a threat to the safety of the undercover officer, as there was no evidence that she either resided or worked in the neighborhood where the officer was actively engaged in buy-and-bust operations. As the closure order was broader than necessary and not supported by the record, the defendant is entitled to a new trial (see, People v. Rentas, 253 A.D.2d 469; People v. Vargas, 244 A.D.2d 367; People v. Scott, 237 A.D.2d 544; People v. Gayle, 237 A.D.2d 532; People v. Pankey, 219 A.D.2d 737).