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Judge Takes Rap for Private Sentencing Carl Campanile A federal appeals court chastised a Manhattan judge yesterday for secretly sentencing a pair of convicted drug peddlers. The court said it was illegal for federal Judge Shirley Wohl Kram to sentence the defendants in chambers "because the public and press have a qualified First Amendment right of access to plea and sentencing proceedings." Kram was ordered to resentence Carlos Goiry and Luz Marina Muņoz in her public courtroom. The appeals court made a similar ruling in the Martha Stewart case after Judge Miriam Goldman Cederbaum sought to bar the press from observing the questioning of potential jurors. Court Slams Her Closed-door Justice Robert Gearty The U.S. Court of Appeals slapped a Manhattan judge yesterday for holding criminal proceedings "behind closed doors" in her robing room - and not in the courtroom. The court enacted its rarely used supervisory powers to overturn a guilty plea and a sentencing decision in two drug conspiracy cases handled by Manhattan Federal Court Judge Shirley Wohl Kram. "Holding these significant criminal proceedings behind closed doors - without notice to the public or any statement of reasons for the closure - is inconsistent with our open system of justice," the Second Circuit ruling stated. Kram had no comment yesterday about the high court's decision. Prosecutors had argued that holding such proceedings in the robing room was "in accordance with Judge Kram's customary practice." |
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A Feast
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