Crawford v. Minnesota

• Decision Date: 20 August 2007
• Docket Number: No. 05-3221.,05-3221.
• Citation: 498 F.3d 851
• Parties: Odell DePriest CRAWFORD, Petitioner-Appellant, v. State of MINNESOTA, Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

498 F.3d 851

Odell DePriest CRAWFORD, Petitioner-Appellant, v. State of MINNESOTA, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 05-3221.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: January 12, 2007.

Filed: August 20, 2007.

Robert J. Kolstad, argued Minneapolis, MN, for appellant.

Jean Burdorf, argued, Michael K. Walz, Assistant County Attorney, on the brief, Hennepin County Attorney's Office, Minneapolis, MN, for appellee.

Before LOKEN, Chief Judge, BYE and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges.

LOKEN, Chief Judge.

A Minnesota state court jury found Odell DePriest Crawford guilty of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, the rape of his girlfriend's thirteen-year-old daughter. On direct appeal, Crawford argued that the trial court violated his constitutional right to a public trial by partially closing the courtroom while the victim testified without making the findings required by Minn.Stat. § 631.045 and by State v. Fageroos, 531 N.W.2d 199, 201-202 (Minn. 1995). The Minnesota Court of Appeals rejected this argument, concluding that Crawford "waived the issue" because he did not object to the closure at trial. State v. Crawford, No. C4-01-2073, 2002 WL 31056664, at *1 (Minn.App.2002). The Supreme Court of Minnesota denied discretionary review. After exhausting his state postconviction remedies, Crawford filed this petition for a writ of habeas corpus, asserting numerous grounds for relief. The district court¹ denied the petition, concluding inter alia that Crawford's procedural default of his Sixth Amendment public trial claim is an independent and adequate state law ground that precludes federal habeas relief on that issue. Crawford appeals. We granted a certificate of appealability limited to the public trial issue. We now affirm.

I.

The trial transcript reflects that after the jury was selected but before opening statements, the trial court stated to counsel:

Okay. The record [will] reflect we are outside of the presence of the jury. There were a couple of matters that counsel wished to put on the record . . . before we begin the trial.

Counsel for Crawford responded first with a motion in limine, which the court granted. Defense counsel then stated, "It's also my understanding that Mr. Nolen [the prosecutor] is going to ask for . . . the courtroom to be closed during [the victim's] testimony." After resolving a witness scheduling issue, the court returned to this issue, saying, "Mr. Nolen, you had a request also." The prosecutor replied:

Yes, Your Honor. I did indicate that the child who is going to testify wants to have her mother present. I talked to them, and the state will call the mother first with the understanding that she would then be able to remain in the courtroom while the child testifies. The child also has an aunt present who wishes to be present while she testifies. There is also an advocate . . . from my office who would be present. Other than that, I would ask the courtroom be closed while she testifies.

In response, defense counsel first acknowledged "that the statute allows, if the Court determines that it's necessary, for someone to be there to support a child alleged victim." Counsel then objected to allowing the victim's mother to be present, as well as her aunt and an advocate, on the ground that the mother might give nonverbal testimony not subject to cross examination for example, by crying during the victim's testimony. The court ruled, "The state's request will be granted. The mother and advocate can be present in the courtroom."

Defense counsel then asked that his investigator "be allowed to be in the courtroom during the testimony." The court granted this request at the conclusion of counsels' opening statements. After the victim's mother testified as the first trial witness, the prosecution called the victim to testify. The record does not reflect that the courtroom was cleared or that anyone was asked to leave before this testimony, whether any member of the public was denied entry to the proceedings, or whether the courtroom was reopened following the victim's testimony. We assume, as the parties, the district court, and the Minnesota Court of Appeals have assumed, that the courtroom was closed in accordance with the trial judge's ruling.²

II.

Anglo-American jurisprudence has for centuries recognized that openness "enhances both the basic fairness of the criminal trial and the appearance of fairness so essential to public confidence in the system." Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court, 464 U.S. 501, 508, 104 S.Ct. 819, 78 L.Ed.2d 629 (1984). But the right to a public trial is not absolute. A longstanding exception to the general principle is reflected in many cases holding that an otherwise public criminal trial may be closed, at least to the general public, when a young victim is called to testify regarding an alleged sexual offense. See Harris v. Stephens, 361 F.2d 888, 891 (8th Cir. 1966), cert. denied, 386 U.S. 964, 87 S.Ct. 1040, 18 L.Ed.2d 113 (1967). The boundaries of that exception have been frequently tested in recent years.

Globe Newspaper Co. v. Superior Court, 457 U.S. 596, 608, 102 S.Ct. 2613, 73 L.Ed.2d 248 (1982), held that a state statute mandating closure of the courtroom when a minor victim testifies violated the First Amendment. However, the Supreme Court acknowledged, trial courts may "determine on a case-by-case basis whether closure is necessary to protect the welfare of a minor victim." That same year, Minnesota enacted Minn.Stat. § 631.045, which provides that, after allowing the parties and members of the public to object, a trial court may exclude the public during trial of an enumerated sexual offense while a minor victim testifies "upon a showing that closure is necessary to protect a witness or ensure fairness in the trial," provided that the judge "specif[ies] the reasons for closure in an order."

In Waller v. Georgia, 467 U.S. 39, 46, 104 S.Ct. 2210, 81 L.Ed.2d 31 (1984), the Supreme Court concluded that the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of a public trial "is no less protective . . . than the implicit First Amendment right of the press and public" to attend a trial. Accordingly, the Court held, to justify closing a trial or suppression hearing:

the party seeking to close the hearing must advance an overriding interest that is likely to be prejudiced, the closure must be no broader than necessary to protect that interest, the trial court must consider reasonable alternatives to closing the proceeding, and it must make findings adequate to support the closure.

Id. at 48, 104 S.Ct. 2210. The Court remanded for a new suppression hearing rather than a new trial, leaving open to the state courts whether one defendant who did not object to closure "is procedurally barred from seeking relief as a matter of state law." Id. at 42 n. 2, 104 S.Ct. 2210. Though denial of the right to a public trial is structural error that requires no showing of prejudice, see id. at 49-50, 104 S.Ct. 2210, this confirms that the right may be waived.³

As Crawford acknowledges, federal habeas relief may not be granted on a federal claim that the state appellate court declined to address because the petitioner failed to meet a state procedural requirement constituting an "independent and adequate state ground." Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722, 730, 111 S.Ct. 2546, 115 L.Ed.2d 640 (1991). To be "independent and adequate," a state procedural bar must be "firmly established and regularly followed" by the time it is applied. Ford v. Georgia, 498 U.S. 411, 424, 111 S.Ct. 850, 112 L.Ed.2d 935 (1991). In a variety of contexts, Minnesota courts have invoked the principle that "district court errors — even those affecting constitutional rights — can be forfeited for purposes of appeal by the failure to make a timely objection in the district court." State v. Osborne, 715 N.W.2d 436, 441 (Minn.2006). However, Crawford argues, his Sixth Amendment public trial claim is not procedurally barred because the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruling that failure to object constitutes a waiver of this claim has not been regularly followed by the Minnesota appellate courts. Whether the Minnesota Court of Appeals had a "fair or substantial basis" to determine that the issue was procedurally defaulted is a question of federal law. See Garcia v. Lewis, 188 F.3d 71, 77 (2d Cir.1999).

In State v. Fageroos, the Supreme Court of Minnesota applied Waller to the appeal of a sexual offense conviction. The trial court had summarily closed the courtroom to "four observers" while the minor victim and her sister testified. The record did not reflect compliance with the requirements of § 631.045 and Waller or whether the defendant had consented or objected to the closure. 531 N.W.2d at 201. The Court concluded that "protection of minor victims of sexual offenses . . . does not justify closure of the courtroom each and every time a minor testifies." Therefore, "a case-by-case determination must be made," and the trial court "must articulate its findings with specificity and detail supporting the need for closure." Id. at 202. Rather than granting an automatic new trial, the Court remanded for an evidentiary hearing to determine whether there was a need for the closure.

A few months after the decision in Fageroos, the Minnesota Court of Appeals held in an unreported decision that "the failure of a defendant to object to a closure order does not waive the issue" for purposes of plain error postconviction review. As in Fageroos, the Court remanded for findings as to the need for closure. State v. Anderson, No. C2-95-1087, 1995 WL 747894, at *2 (Minn.App. Dec. 19, 1995). Similarly, in another unreported decision, Danforth v. State, No. C6-00-699, 2000 WL 1780244, at *5 (Minn.App. Dec. 5, 2000), the Court denied postconviction relief because defendant "made no attempt to explain how the district court's decision . . . met the plain error test."⁴

Anderson and Danforth seem inconsistent with the cryptic...