The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to a public trial. Our founding fathers inserted that measure into the Constitution to ensure that anyone in America who was charged with a crime would not be tried behind closed doors, where due process and the rights of the accused could be ignored. That legal concept was the basis for a court decision this week which gave a convicted murderer a new trial.
Evan Savoie is the youngest person in Washington in 80 years to be tried as an adult. He was just 12 years old when he was arrested for killing his 13-year old schoolmate in Oasis Park in Ephrata in 2003. Savoie was subsequently convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Savoie appealed his conviction on the grounds that his Sixth Amendment rights were violated. The jury selection phase of Savoie’s trial was closed to the public because of the revelation of what a judge deemed to be sensitive information. Savoie’s attorneys discussed mental health information and child protection records pertaining to the victim; and despite defense objections, the judge chose to close the proceedings to the public with the goal of protecting the privacy of the victim’s family.
This week, the Washington Court of Appeals ruled that the judge’s actions violated Savoie’s constitutional rights, even though the jury selection phase was the only part of the trial that was shielded from public view. The appellate court ordered that Savoie be retried on the murder charges.
It is quite likely that the result of the new trial will be the same as the first one. In addition, the judge in the original trial was probably trying to lessen the pain for the victim’s grieving parents caused by the judicial process; and did not act with the explicit intention of stripping a murder suspect of his rights. But despite the judge’s good intentions and, it is still vital that the state observe the rights of all accused persons – including their right to a public trial. That’s why the appeals court ruled the way it did.