Opinion ID: 774021
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Countervailing Factors to be Balanced Against the Presumption of Access

Text: 34 The defendants contend that allowing the intervenors to copy the tapes played at the pretrial hearing will violate their right to a fair trial by, in effect, tainting the pool of potential jurors. They argue that if the conversations on the tapes were broadcast to the public at large, potential jurors would be likely to arrive at a verdict based not only on the evidence presented at trial, but also on the prejudicial material contained in the tapes. The right of the defendants to a fair trial is of the utmost importance, and the defendants' claim is not one we treat lightly. As we stated above, the common law right is not absolute, and must bow to the defendants' fair trial right if the two rights are irreconcilable; that is, countervailing factors may overcome the presumption of access. 35 However, as noted by the district court, alternative remedies exist to ensure that the defendants receive a fair trial, ranging from a more searching voir dire to a change of venue. As we stated in Myers, which concerned the high-profile Abscam scandal: 36 We do not doubt the premise of this claim that televising the tapes will greatly increase the number of people with knowledge of their content beyond those already aware of the videotaped events through reading press accounts and viewing television newscasts. Nor do we doubt that seeing the tapes on television will create a stronger impression of the events among those who already have been exposed to news accounts of their contents. 37 We disagree, however, that the likelihood of such enhanced awareness of the tapes poses the kind of risk to fair trials for [the] defendants that justifies curtailing the public's right of access to courtroom evidence. Defendants, as well as the news media, frequently overestimate the extent of the public's awareness of the news.... Even the intensive publicity surrounding the events of Watergate, very likely the most widely reported crime of the past decade, did not prevent the selection of jurors without such knowledge of the events as would prevent them from serving impartially. 38 Myers, 635 F.2d at 953. Likewise, we agree with the district court that while the events surrounding the instant case have gained some notoriety, the possibility that the jury pool will become so tainted as to prevent the defendants here from obtaining fair trials is too speculative to justify denial of the public's right to inspect and copy evidence presented in open court. Id. at 954. As the district court found both on the defendants' motion to close the courtroom and on their opposition to the application of the intervenors to copy the tapes, there has already been extensive reporting on the events to which the Category One and Two tapes are relevant. 39 The district court thoughtfully expressed some concern that the intervenors (and, consequently, the public) would have access to evidence which might be the subject of a successful suppression motion before trial. However, in Myers, as the district court correctly noted, we found that the speculative effect of the tapes on the trials of future defendants in that case was not sufficient to overcome the presumption of access. See id. at 953-54. We stated: We do not believe the public at large must be sanitized as if they all would become jurors in the remaining Abscam trials. The alleged risk to a fair trial for the Abscam defendants is too speculative to justify denial of the public's right to inspect and copy evidence presented in open court. Id. The situation of the defendants here is analogous to that of the subsequent defendants in Myers. 40 Moreover, there was no indication, at the time of oral argument, that any of the defendants intended to file a motion in limine seeking to prevent the use of the tapes at trial. Were we faced with a situation in which there had been little or no pretrial publicity of the charges against the defendants, and in which some portion of the evidence was clearly inflammatory and unlikely to be admitted at trial, we might come to a different conclusion, although the strong presumption of access to evidence aired in open court during a detention hearing would remain. However, as the Category Three evidence -- which by all accounts may fit that description - is not at issue, we are not faced with that question here.