Evening star., 1943-03-31
Press Rights Upheld
By Judge in Denying
New WeIch Trial
Declares Reliance on
Newspapers Own Rules
Better Than Censorship

The right of traditionally free
press to operate under self-imposed
restraits and disciplines rather than
under Government censorship was
upheld today by Associate Justice
Justin Miller of the United States
Court of Appeals in affirming a re-
cent conviction in District Court.
Justice Miller'S opinion grew out
OF an appeal of Wallace H .Welch
and Erma G. WEIGH, who recently
were convicted on charges of at
tempted pandering and took the
case to the appellate tribunal on,
among other points, the grounds
that discovery of newspapers in the
jury room necessarily constituted
evidence of an improper influence on
the jurors.
Charge Involved L. S. Employe.
Mr.. and Mrs. WEIGH are now
serving 10 to 80 months on the
charges which involved a 2O-year-
old Government employe They
were sentenced November 6 by JUS
tice Jennings Bailey
In outlining the facts of the case,
Justice Miller wrote that after the
trial court had adjourned at the
conclusion of the case, inf1amma-
tory articles were published in cer-
tain Washington newspapers con-
cerning the appellants, and when
the court reconvened the following
morning the jury was sent to the
jury room. A marshal was in
structed to search the jury ROOM
where lie found two copies of a
morning paper.
Trial Justice Bailey stated that
he would declare a mistrial if the
fact appeared that any juror had
become acquainted with the content
of newspaper articles about the case.
The Judge asked the jurors if they
had read any such articles and, re-
celvlng no response, then asked If
the jurors had heard about such
articles. One juror said he had
been told there was such an article
in one of the newspapers but said
he had not read it.
Opposes British Plan.
In discussing the point at issue
Justice Miller wrote: In this sit
uatlOn it is necessary to reconcile
our solicitude for the rights of &C
cused persons, on the one hand,
with our nsistence upon the free
dom of the press on the other. We
are not willing in this country to
exercise such severe restraints upon
newspaper publicity during trials
as has been done in England.
This has resulted, sometimes. in
embarrassment; but, nevertheless,
so long as the press falls short Of
actual contempt, it is better to de-
pend upon the self imposed re-
straints and disciplines of the pro-
fessional group than to stife and
censor a traditional free press by
governmental restraints.
Courts Must Be Realistic"
This being true, it results that
our courts must operate realistically
under conditions which sometimes
imperil the purity of verdicts.
1T would be completely unreahstic
TO hold that disqualification of the
jury occurs whenever police officers
overStep the bounds of proper con-
duct by releasing information con-
corning accused persons or when
newspapers violate their own canons
of professional conduct by printing
lnf1ammatory articles during the
course of a trial"
Chief Justice D. Lawrence Groner
Joined Justice Miller in the ajority
opinion.
In dissenting opinion Associate
Justice Henry w Edgerton wrote:
IF the jurors had been polled and
all had denied reading the article,
1t might have been within the courts
discretion to deny a new trial. How
ever, that is not what occurred. It
was exceedingly probable. in the
absence of any denial. that some
jurors had read an article which
was available to all and could not
fail to be interesting to all / think
a mistrial should have been granted"