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Final Copy 288 Ga. 865 S10G0664. PURVIS v. THE STATE. HUNSTEIN, Chief Justice. We granted certiorari to determine whether the Court of Appeals erred when it concluded that appellant Bobby Carroll Purvis's right to a public trial was not violated by the holding of his trial in the county jail. See Purvis v. State, 301 Ga. App. 648 (3) (689 SE2d 53) (2009). Because appellant produced unrebutted evidence that jail authorities excluded from the jail courtroom appellant's brother, a member of the public who wanted to attend appellant's trial, in violation of his rights under the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Art. I, Sec. I, Par. XI (a) of the Georgia Constitution of 1983, we reverse. 1. Appellant was indicted in Berrien County on a charge of child molestation involving a family member. The jury for appellant's trial was selected at the Berrien County courthouse. However, the trial itself was held on October 3, 2006 in a courtroom in the county jail. The record is completely silent regarding the reason, if any, for the trial court's decision to move the trial from the county courthouse to the jail courtroom. After his conviction, appellant asserted in his motion for new trial, inter alia, that he was denied his right to a public trial. In support of his assertion, appellant introduced the testimony of his brother, who said he was unable to enter the jail

courtroom on the day of the trial because the courtroom door was locked and, after pressing the buzzer and asking to be allowed in, the jailer refused to unlock the door, even after being informed the brother was there to observe the trial.1 Although the State presented several jail officials who testified about their general policy to allow members of the public access to the jail courtroom, none of the State's witnesses directly rebutted the testimony by appellant's brother.2 Indeed, the State expressly concedes in its brief that the brother "was kept out of the courtroom in the present case."3
Although appellant's brother indicated that he was not the only person prevented from entering the courtroom, those other persons did not testify at the hearing on the motion for new trial. Compare McKibben v. State, 187 Ga. 651, 652 (3) (2 SE2d 101) (1939) (defendant's claim that his right to a public trial was violated by the giving of the jury instructions in the jury room was rejected because "[i]t was not made to appear that . . . such room was not fully open to all of the public who might have desired to be present, the same as the court-room would have been"); Craven v. State, 292 Ga. App. 592 (1) (a) (664 SE2d 921) (2008) (defendant's claim that a bailiff barred family members from attending voir dire directly rebutted by the three court bailiffs' testimony). Although the State claims that the brother was excluded because he was listed as a defense witness in the case and the rule of sequestration had been invoked, our review of the record establishes that there is nothing therein to support this claim. We note that appellant's notice of appeal directed the clerk of the superior court to "omit nothing from the record on appeal"; the record before us has been certified to be a "true and complete copy of the record" in this case, see OCGA

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