Opinion ID: 1946024
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Pretrial Publicity

Text: [¶ 9] Two months before trial, the State and Saucier reached a plea agreement. The court ( Cole. J. ) rejected the agreement on June 22, 2000. The local television stations and print media covered the plea proceeding. Saucier then moved to change venue to another county on the ground that an impartial jury could not be ensured because of the pretrial publicity. The motion was supported by copies of five articles and one editorial from the Portland Press Herald; four articles from the Biddeford Journal Tribune; and three articles from the Lewiston Sun Journal. No affidavits accompanied the motion, but the motion alleged that four local television stations broadcast stories about the failed plea agreement on both the evening and late night newscasts on June 22. In addition, two stations carried the news on their early morning news programs on June 23. [¶ 10] Of the twelve newspaper articles, seven are dated mid-December 1999, and cover the death of Butterfield. They are straight forward accounts of the incident. They emphasize that Butterfield had not known Saucier previously and that Saucier was driving even though his license had been suspended previously several times. The editorial from the Portland paper is dated December 15, 1999, and it urges Maine judges to jail habitual offenders to keep dangerous people like Joe Pete Saucier from driving. A month later, a brief account of Saucier's indictment appeared in the Portland paper. [¶ 11] Another brief article in the Portland paper, dated June 3, 2000, reports that the State and Saucier had reached an agreement which would be presented to the court on June 22. The remaining three articles, one from each of the three newspapers, are dated June 23 and 24 and concern the failed plea agreement. Only the Biddeford paper printed this development on the front page. The gist of the three articles is that Saucier was to enter a guilty plea in exchange for a recommendation from the State that he be sentenced to seven years, but when the judge indicated that seven years was not sufficient, the deal collapsed. These June news stories briefly summarize the incident and quote or paraphrase both the prosecutor and Saucier's counsel.