Wire
Third Circuit keeps Virgin Islands convictions despite closed trial
Kareem Harry and Paul Girard remain convicted after the Third Circuit said the Virgin Islands court violated their right to a public trial by starting without spectators and later barring their mothers. But the defense objected too late to undo the case.
Kareem Harry and Paul Girard lost their appeals in the Third Circuit even after the court said their trial in the U.S. Virgin Islands violated the Sixth Amendment right to a public trial. The courtroom opened without public access, and federal marshals later kept the men’s mothers from entering for several trial days.
The ruling matters because it shows how quickly a constitutional protection can lose force in practice. A courtroom can be closed the wrong way, but if defense lawyers do not object when it happens, the convictions may still survive.
Where the closure went wrong
The judges said the trial court did not justify the decision to bar the public from the courtroom at the start of trial. They also said the record did not support keeping the defendants’ mothers outside for several days when seats were available inside.
But the panel drew the line at relief. It said neither Harry nor Girard made an adequate contemporaneous objection to the closures, and that mattered enough for the convictions to remain in place. The court also concluded the men still received a fair trial.
Why timing decided the case
Public trials are supposed to let families, reporters and other members of the public watch justice happen in real time. That openness is not decorative. It is part of the guarantee itself.
This opinion turns that guarantee into a warning for defense lawyers: if the courtroom is shut, the objection has to come immediately. Waiting until after the verdict can leave a defendant with a constitutional victory on paper and a conviction that still stands.