People v. Bui

183 Cal. App. 4th 675, 107 Cal. Rptr. 3d 585, 2010 Cal. App. LEXIS 469
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 6, 2010
DocketA119404
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 183 Cal. App. 4th 675 (People v. Bui) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Bui, 183 Cal. App. 4th 675, 107 Cal. Rptr. 3d 585, 2010 Cal. App. LEXIS 469 (Cal. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

Opinion

BRUINIERS, J.

Appellant Ryan Brian Bui (Bui) was convicted of two counts of burglary, one count of attempted burglary, and one count of receiving stolen property. He maintained his constitutional right to a public trial was violated by the trial court’s temporary exclusion of family members from the courtroom during jury voir dire. Bui also claimed error in the court’s exclusion of certain evidence offered in support of his defense theory of third party culpability. We found any error in exclusion of persons from the courtroom to be de minimis and affirmed. Bui petitioned for review. The California Supreme Court directed this court to vacate our prior decision and reconsider in light of Presley v. Georgia (2010) 558 U.S. __ [175 L.Ed.2d 675, 130 S.Ct. 721] (Presley). In the published portion of this decision, we conclude that Presley does not alter the “de minimis” doctrine recognized by the California Supreme Court on which our prior decision relied. Accordingly, we affirm.

I. Procedural Background

The San Mateo County District Attorney charged Bui by information with two counts of burglary (Pen. Code, § 460, subd. (a)), 1 one count of attempted burglary (§§ 460, subd. (a), 664), and one count of receiving stolen property (§ 496, subd. (a)). The information also alleged that Bui was on parole at the *679 time he committed the last offense, and that he had a prior conviction for one count of residential burglary in San Francisco, and a San Mateo prior conviction for five counts of residential burglary. These prior convictions were alleged as strikes under section 1170.12, subdivision (c)(2), and enhancements under sections 667.5, subdivision (b), and 667, subdivision (a).

A jury found Bui guilty of all four counts, and found all the enhancing allegations to be true. Bui moved for a new trial on the basis of denial of his right to public trial and exclusion of third party culpability evidence. The trial court denied the motion. The court sentenced Bui to 25 years to life on the first count of burglary, and to a consecutive determinate term of 21 years eight months on the remaining counts.

We affirmed the conviction in an unpublished decision on October 7, 2009. Bui filed a petition for reconsideration and a petition for writ of habeas corpus, which we also denied. On February 3, 2010, the California Supreme Court granted his petition for review and ordered this court to vacate its decision and reconsider the cause in light of Presley, supra, 558 U.S. __ [130 S.Ct. 721].

II. Factual Background *

III. Discussion

A. Exclusion of Family Members from Voir Dire

Bui argues that he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to a public trial because three spectators, including two family members, * 3 were excluded from the courtroom for about 40 minutes during jury voir dire. 4 He maintains that this constituted structural error, requiring reversal of his conviction without the necessity of any showing of prejudice.

*680 “Every person charged with a criminal offense has a constitutional right to a public trial, that is, a trial which is open to the general public at all times. (See U.S. Const., amends. VI, XIV; Cal. Const., art. I, § 15; see also ... § 686, subd. 1.)” (People v. Woodward (1992) 4 Cal.4th 376, 382 [14 Cal.Rptr.2d 434, 841 P.2d 954] (Woodward).) A “defendant’s state constitutional public trial right appears to be coextensive with the federal guarantee [citation] . . . .” (Id. at p. 381.) “Nearly a century ago this court declared in People v. Hartman (1894) 103 Cal. 242, 245 [37 P. 153] . . . : ‘The doors of the courtroom are expected to be kept open, the public are entitled to be admitted, and the trial is to be public in all respects, . . . with due regard to the size of the courtroom, the conveniences of the court, the right to exclude objectionable characters and youth of tender years, and to do other things which may facilitate the proper conduct of the trial.’ ” (Woodward, supra, at p. 388 (conc. opn. of Mosk, J.), first ellipsis added.)

A trial open to the public “plays as important a role in the administration of justice today as it did for centuries before our separation from England. The value of openness lies in the fact that people not actually attending trials can have confidence that standards of fairness are being observed; the sure knowledge that anyone is free to attend gives assurance that established procedures are being followed and that deviations will become known. Openness thus enhances both the basic fairness of the criminal trial and the appearance of fairness so essential to public confidence in the system. [Citation.]” (Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court of Cal. (1984) 464 U.S. 501, 508 [78 L.Ed.2d 629, 104 S.Ct. 819] (Press-Enterprise).) If a defendant has been denied his Sixth Amendment right to public trial, the error is structural in nature, and reversible per se. A “defendant should not be required to prove specific prejudice in order to obtain relief for a violation of the public-trial guarantee.” (Waller v. Georgia (1984) 467 U.S. 39, 49 [81 L.Ed.2d 31, 104 S.Ct. 2210], fn. omitted (Waller).)

The public trial right applies not only to the trial itself, but also to a pretrial suppression hearing (Waller, supra, 467 U.S. at p. 48), preliminary examinations (People v. Pompa-Ortiz (1980) 27 Cal.3d 519, 526 [165 Cal.Rptr. 851, 612 P.2d 941]), closing arguments (Woodward, supra, 4 Cal.4th at p. 383), instructing the jury (People v. Teitelbaum (1958) 163 Cal.App.2d 184, 206-207 [329 P.2d 157]), and voir dire. (Presley, supra, 558 U.S. at p. __ [130 S.Ct. at p. 724]; Press-Enterprise, supra, 464 U.S. at p. 508.) “The general trend of the cases appears to be toward expanding application of the public trial right.” (Woodward, supra, 4 Cal.4th at p. 383.)

In some limited circumstances, however, the public may be barred from a criminal trial. “The Sixth Amendment public trial guarantee creates a ‘presumption of openness’ that can be rebutted only by a showing that exclusion *681

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
183 Cal. App. 4th 675, 107 Cal. Rptr. 3d 585, 2010 Cal. App. LEXIS 469, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-bui-calctapp-2010.