Opinion ID: 1561502
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Free Press/Fair Trial

Text: Pennell argues that the Superior Court's order is a proper exercise of its duty to protect his Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed.... U.S. Const. amend VI. The right to a jury trial, is applicable to the States through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. [2] Duncan v. Louisiana, 391 U.S. 145, 149, 88 S.Ct. 1444, 1447, 20 L.Ed.2d 491 (1968). In essence, the right to jury trial guarantees to the criminally accused a fair trial by a panel of impartial, indifferent jurors.... A fair trial in a fair tribunal is a basic requirement of due process. In re Murchison, 349 U.S. 133, 136 [75 S.Ct. 623, 625, 99 L.Ed. 942 (1955) ]. In the ultimate analysis, only the jury can strip a man of his liberty or his life. In the language of Lord Coke, a juror must be as indifferent as he stands unsworne. Co. Litt. 155b. His verdict must be based upon the evidence developed at the trial. Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 722, 81 S.Ct. 1639, 1642, 6 L.Ed.2d 751 (1961). Gannett argues that the Superior Court's order violates rights which are equally fundamental in our jurisprudence and are guaranteed to it by the First Amendment which states that: Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.... U.S. Const. amend. I. Those guarantees have been applied, through the Fourteenth Amendment, to invalidate restraints on freedom of the press imposed by the States. See, e.g., Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo, 418 U.S. 241, 94 S.Ct. 2831, 41 L.Ed.2d 730 (1974); New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 84 S.Ct. 710, 11 L.Ed.2d 686 (1964); Near v. Minnesota ex rel. Olson, 283 U.S. 697, 51 S.Ct. 625, 75 L.Ed. 1357 (1931). In particular, the First Amendment has been interpreted to interdict restraints imposed by State courts in criminal proceedings. See, e.g., Craig v. Harney, 331 U.S. 367, 67 S.Ct. 1249, 91 L.Ed. 1546 (1947); Bridges v. California, 314 U.S. 252, 62 S.Ct. 190, 86 L.Ed. 192 (1941). It is inconceivable that the authors of the Bill of Rights were unaware of the potential conflicts between the right to a fair trial by an unbiased jury and the guarantee of freedom of the press. Nebraska Press Assn. v. Stuart, 427 U.S. 539, 547, 96 S.Ct. 2791, 2797, 49 L.Ed.2d 683 (1976). Nevertheless, the authors of the Bill of Rights did not undertake to assign priorities as between First Amendment and Sixth Amendment rights, i.e., ranking one as superior to the other. Id. at 561, 96 S.Ct. at 2804. The United States Supreme Court has held that: if the authors of these guarantees, fully aware of the potential conflicts between them, were unwilling or unable to resolve the issue by assigning to one priority over the other, it is not for [the Courts] to rewrite the Constitution by undertaking what they declined to do. Id. Thus, the United States Supreme Court has also declined to establish a priority between the guarantees of the First Amendment and the Sixth Amendment, which would be applicable in all circumstances. Id. Each case must be examined and decided according to its own facts. Id. at 551, 96 S.Ct. at 2799. Consequently, it has become the trial judge's primary responsibility to govern each judicial proceeding in a way that ensures the guarantees of both the First and the Sixth Amendments. See, e.g., Annotation, Propriety of Order Forbidding News Media from Publishing Names and Addresses of Jurors in Criminal Cases, 36 A.L.R. 4th 1126 (1985); Lexington Herald-Leader Co. v. Meigs, 660 S.W.2d 658 (Ky.1983); see also S. Metcalf, Rights and Liabilities of Publishers, Broadcasters and Reporters (1982-1989).