Opinion ID: 1427176
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Historical Differences

Text: I recognize that ancient history is not necessarily the best basis to decide how rights in our society should be structured today. Nevertheless, in determining what rights rise to the level of constitutional protection, the historical backdrop of the First Amendment is an important interpretational aid. In each of the four United States Supreme Court cases involving public access to criminal proceedings, historical perspective was an important consideration. It is therefore important to recognize that in precolonial England and early colonial America, trials have always been public and preliminary examinations generally have not. In the earliest reports of criminal trials in England can be found the seeds of a tradition of open trials. A record of 1565 was quoted in the Press-Enterprise case. This early reporter explained that there is nothing put in writing but the enditement: All the rest is doone openlie in the presence of the Judges, the Justices, the enquest, the prisoner, and so many as will or can come so neare as to heare it, and all depositions and witnesses given aloude, that all men may heare from the mouth of the depositors and witnesses what is saide. T. Smith, De Republica Anglorum 96 (Alston ed. 1906), quoted in Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court, ___ U.S. at ___, 104 S.Ct. at 822-23 (1984). Conversely, Maitland wrote of preliminary examinations in 1885: [The] preliminary examination of accused persons has gradually assumed a very judicial form... . The place in which it is held is indeed no open court, the public can be excluded if the magistrate thinks that the ends of justice will thus be best answered. F. Maitland, Justice and Police 129 (1885), quoted in Gannett Co. v. DePasquale, 443 U.S. at 389, 99 S.Ct. at 2910. In fact, in England it was held libelous for the press to publish preliminary examinations taken before a magistrate. In Rex v. Fisher, 2 Camp. 563, 570-71, 170 Eng. Rep. 1253, 1255 (N.P. 1811), Lord Ellenborough held: If any thing is more important than another in the administration of justice, it is that jurymen should come to the trial of those persons on whose guilt or innocence they are to decide, with minds pure and unprejudiced... . Trials at law, fairly reported, although they may occasionally prove injurious to individuals, have been held to be privileged. Let them continue so privileged... . But these preliminary examinations have no such privilege. Their only tendency is to prejudge those whom the law still presumes to be innocent, and to poison the sources of justice. Quoted in Gannett Co. v. DePasquale, 443 U.S. at 389 n. 20, 99 S.Ct. at 2910 n. 20. Similarly, in the United States, pretrial proceedings were generally closed if the defendant requested. See generally discussion id. at 390, 99 S.Ct. at 2911. An examination of the historical roots of the Utah preliminary examination procedure also reveals a tradition of closed, rather than open, hearings. Prior to statehood, felony offenses were prosecuted by indictment. At statehood, the preliminary examination replaced the grand jury indictment. Utah Const. art. I, § 13. The preliminary examination fulfills the same purpose as the grand jury process in screening charges not supported by the evidence. Obviously, grand jury proceedings are presumptively closed. Because a grand jury also has an investigatory function, there are additional reasons why its proceedings are closed to the public, but some of the same considerations apply. In Douglas Oil Co. v. Petrol Stops, Inc., 441 U.S. 211, 99 S.Ct. 1667, 60 L.Ed.2d 156 (1979), the Supreme Court upheld secrecy of grand jury proceedings, saying: [B]y preserving the secrecy of the proceedings, we assure that persons who are accused but exonerated by the grand jury will not be held up to public ridicule. 441 U.S. at 219, 99 S.Ct. at 1673 (footnote omitted). The preliminary examination is not the precise functional equivalent of a grand jury indictment, and the presumption of closure is not as strong. For example, the accused may demand that the preliminary examination be open; he may not make similar demands of the grand jury. Grand jury transcripts are sealed, even after the grand jury concludes its business; preliminary hearing transcripts should ordinarily be made public after the defendant is bound over and the criminal trial is concluded. Nevertheless, the historical roots of the preliminary hearing are in the grand jury, not in the criminal trial. Further, from the beginning in Utah, preliminary examinations have been closed at the request of the defendant. The earliest statute after statehood provided: The magistrate must also, upon request of the defendant, exclude from the examination every person except his clerk, the prosecutor and his counsel, the attorney general, the defendant and his counsel, and the officer having the defendant in custody. Revised Statutes of Utah, § 4669 (1898). This statute remained in effect with only minor changes until 1980, when it was replaced by our present statute, which allows either party to request that the hearing be closed and vests discretion in the magistrate, rather than providing for a closed hearing to the accused as a matter of right.