YU, J.
¶ 1 This case is another opportunity to clarify our evolving jurisprudence on open courts. Today we decide if a particular method of challenging jurors after voir dire — a method commonly employed in trial courts around the state — violates the constitutional right to a public trial. At the conclusion of voir dire questioning, counsel exercised for cause challenges orally at the bench and subsequently exercised peremptory challenges silently by exchanging a list of jurors and alternatively striking names from it. All of voir dire, including the juror challenges, occurred in open court, on the record, and in full view of any observer in the courtroom. We hold the juror challenges in this case were exercised in a manner consistent with the minimum safeguards of the public trial right and affirm.
¶ 2 Petitioner Unters Lewis Love elected to go to trial on several counts of theft and bail jumping. The first day of trial was
¶ 3 Voir dire examination began immediately thereafter. Both the trial judge and counsel questioned the jury pool in open court; their questions and the potential jurors' responses were on the record. When questioning concluded, the trial judge asked counsel to approach the bench to discuss for cause challenges in the presence of the court reporter:
Verbatim Report Proceedings (Apr. 9, 2012) at 132-33. Jurors 15 and 30 had strongly indicated they could not be impartial jurors in response to questions during voir dire, which occurred in the presence of Love, other potential jurors, and the public. The trial judge granted both of Love's for cause challenges. Though the discussion and ruling on these challenges occurred at the bench, the exchange was on the record and visible to observers in the courtroom. The record does not indicate if observers could hear what was said, but no one was asked to leave the courtroom.
¶ 4 Peremptory challenges followed. The record reflects that counsel exercised peremptory challenges silently in the courtroom by exchanging a written list of jurors between themselves. Counsel alternated striking one name from the list (the struck juror sheet), indicating they had exercised a peremptory challenge and removed the juror, until each side had exhausted its challenges.
¶ 5 The trial judge thereafter announced that a jury had been selected. In open court and on the record, the judge read the names of the first 14 jurors left on the struck juror sheet (excluding jurors 4 and 15) and empaneled 12 jurors and two alternates. The judge thanked and dismissed the remaining potential jurors — including jurors 4, 15, and 30 — without further explanation. The empaneled jury convicted Love on all counts.
¶ 6 Love appeals his convictions, arguing that the method of jury selection in his case violated his right to a public trial. He maintains that exercising for cause challenges at the bench and peremptory challenges on the struck juror sheet effectively "closed" the courtroom, though it was unlocked and open, because the public was not privy to the challenges in real time. He also argues his right to be present at all critical stages of the trial was violated because he could not approach the bench with counsel to discuss the for cause challenges.
¶ 7 The Court of Appeals affirmed in an opinion that predates many of our recent public trial right cases. State v. Love, 176 Wn.App. 911, 309 P.3d 1209 (2013). We granted review to consider how our open courts jurisprudence affects how parties can exercise for cause and peremptory challenges at trial. State v. Love, 181 Wn.2d 1029, 340 P.3d 228 (2015).
¶ 8 Love's two claims are purely legal questions, so our review is de novo. State v. Irby, 170 Wn.2d 874, 880, 246 P.3d 796 (2011); State v. Strode, 167 Wn.2d 222, 225, 217 P.3d 310 (2009).
¶ 9 We first consider Love's claim that potential jurors were challenged in a manner that violated his right to a public trial. A criminal defendant's right to a "speedy public trial" is found in article I, section 22 of the Washington Constitution, one of two constitutional components of our open courts doctrine. Love's standing in this case flows from article I, section 22.
¶ 10 A three-step framework guides our analysis in public trial cases. First, we ask if the public trial right attaches to the proceeding at issue. Second, if the right attaches we ask if the courtroom was closed. And third, we ask if the closure was justified. State v. Smith, 181 Wn.2d 508, 513-14, 334 P.3d 1049 (2014) (citing State v. Sublett, 176 Wn.2d 58, 92, 292 P.3d 715 (2012) (Madsen, C.J., concurring)). The appellant carries the burden on the first two steps; the proponent of the closure carries the third. See id. at 516-17, 334 P.3d 1049.
¶ 11 The State argues that Love's claim fails at the outset, urging us to hold that the public trial right does not attach to for cause or peremptory challenges. Typically experience and logic determine if the public trial right attaches to a particular court proceeding, though we can also rely on prior cases that have applied right to the proceeding at issue. Sublett, 176 Wash.2d at 73, 292 P.3d 715; State v. Wise, 176 Wn.2d 1, 12 n. 4, 288 P.3d 1113 (2012) (noting it was "not necessary to engage in a complete `experience and logic test,'" instead citing previous cases to support attachment). Our prior cases hold it "well settled that the right to a public trial ... extends to jury selection," State v. Brightman, 155 Wn.2d 506, 515, 122 P.3d 150 (2005), and we reaffirm that the right attaches to jury selection, including for cause and peremptory challenges. Unlike
¶ 12 We nevertheless affirm Love's conviction because he has not shown a courtroom closure in this case, failing to carry his burden under the second prong of our analysis. We have reversed convictions for two types of closures. The first, obvious type of closure occurs "when the courtroom is completely and purposefully closed to spectators so that no one may enter and no one may leave." State v. Lormor, 172 Wn.2d 85, 93, 257 P.3d 624 (2011); see Brightman, 155 Wash.2d at 511-12, 122 P.3d 150 (public excluded from courtroom during voir dire); In re Pers. Restraint of Orange, 152 Wn.2d 795, 801-02, 100 P.3d 291 (2004) (same). Love does not allege the courtroom was closed in this traditional way.
¶ 13 The second type of closure occurs where a portion of a trial is held someplace "inaccessible" to spectators, usually in chambers. Lormor, 172 Wash.2d at 93, 257 P.3d 624; see also State v. Shearer, 181 Wn.2d 564, 568, 334 P.3d 1078 (2014) (private questioning of juror in chambers); Strode, 167 Wash.2d at 227, 217 P.3d 310 (same of multiple jurors); State v. Paumier, 176 Wn.2d 29, 33, 288 P.3d 1126 (2012) (same). Love equates the for cause and peremptory challenges in his trial — which occurred in open court — to those exercised behind a closed chambers door. He argues the possibility that spectators at his trial could not hear the discussion about for cause challenges or see the struck juror sheet used for peremptory challenges rendered this portion of his trial inaccessible to the public.
¶ 14 We find no merit in that comparison. The public trial right facilitates fair and impartial trials through public scrutiny. Shearer, 181 Wash.2d at 566, 334 P.3d 1078. The public's presence in the courtroom reminds those involved about the importance of their roles and holds them accountable for misconduct. Id.; Strode, 167 Wash.2d at 226, 217 P.3d 310. Effective public oversight of the fairness of a particular trial begins with assurance of the fairness of the particular jury.
¶ 15 Yet the public had ample opportunity to oversee the selection of Love's jury because no portion of the process was concealed from the public; no juror was questioned in chambers. To the contrary, observers could watch the trial judge and counsel ask questions of potential jurors, listen to the answers to those questions, see counsel exercise challenges at the bench and on paper, and ultimately evaluate the empaneled jury. The transcript of the discussion about for cause challenges and the struck juror sheet showing the peremptory challenges are both publically available. The public was present for and could scrutinize the selection of Love's jury from start to finish, affording him the safeguards of the public trial right missing in cases where we found closures of jury section. See Wise, 176 Wash.2d at 7-8, 288 P.3d 1113; Paumier, 176 Wash.2d at 33-34, 288 P.3d 1126. We hold the procedures used at Love's trial comport with the minimum guarantees of the public trial right and find no closure here.
¶ 16 Although Love argues for a broad rule that all peremptory challenges must be spoken aloud, written peremptory challenges are consistent with the public trial right so long as they are filed in the public record. Spoken peremptory challenges certainly increase the transparency of jury selection, but there are still legitimate methods of challenging jurors in writing, like the practice here, that do not amount to a courtroom closure because they are made in open court, on the record, and subject to public scrutiny.
¶ 17 In summary, Love cannot show a closure occurred on these facts and his public trial claim fails.
¶ 18 Love next argues that his absence from the bench conference where the trial judge and counsel discussed and
¶ 19 Jury selection is a critical stage of a criminal trial under both the state and federal constitutions. See Irby, 170 Wash.2d at 884, 246 P.3d 796. But the record before us does not demonstrate a violation of Love's right to be present. Love was present in the courtroom during all of voir dire, including potential jurors' answers to questions that form the basis for challenges. Nothing suggests that Love could not consult with his attorney about which jurors to challenge or meaningfully participate in the process. Cf. id. (right to be present violated where portion of jury selection occurred between the court and counsel over e-mail, without consultation of jailed defendant). It is a long-standing rule that we do "`not, for the purpose of finding reversible error, presume the existence of facts as to which the record is silent.'" Barker v. Weeks, 182 Wn. 384, 391, 47 P.2d 1 (1935) (quoting 4 C.J. Appeal and Error § 2666 (1916)). Love's right to be present claim also fails.
¶ 20 Potential jurors at Love's trial were questioned and challenged in an open courtroom and on the record. This is all that the public trial right requires of jury selection. We hold on these facts that exercising for cause challenges at a bench conference and peremptory challenges on a written list do not constitute a closure. Love's convictions are affirmed.
WE CONCUR: MADSEN, C.J., JOHNSON, OWENS, FAIRHURST, STEPHENS, WIGGINS, GONZÁLEZ, and GORDON McCLOUD, JJ.