KENTEL MYRONE WEAVER v. MASSACHUSETTS
Supreme Court of the United States, Kennedy, June 22, 2017,
IAC- Public Trial- A defendant deprived of the right to a public trial due to ineffective assistance of counsel must show that the denial was so serious as to render his trial “fundamentally unfair”

(Concur- Thomas with Gorsuch- There is no right to public jury selection. Speaks highly of Alito’s concurrence, but doesn’t join it…)
(Concur- Alito, also with Gorsuch- Strickland requires a showing that attorney error rendered the result unreliable and that’s sufficient)
(Dissent- Breyer with Kagan- Structural errors should be presumed prejudicial, even on post-conviction)

Facts: 5 years after Weaver was convicted of murder, he filed a post-conviction claiming that his attorney was ineffective because during jury selection the courtroom was over-crowded and so no members of the public were allowed in.
His post-conviction was denied, since he failed to show how he was prejudiced.
Weaver requested the Supreme Court review the decision, claiming that every structural error (such as denial of a public trial) be presumed prejudicial under Strickland.

Held: The Supreme Court disagreed. While a structural error is presumed prejudicial on direct review, it must be proven on post-conviction.

There’s a lot of hemming and hawing about what this applies to. The opinion says it’s limited to public-trial, but nevertheless continues to speak broadly of structural error…