Opinion ID: 1146447
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: adverse newspaper publicity

Text: At the commencement of the trial a Casper newspaper ran a story reciting that selection of a jury to try this case, which had been delayed because of the trial of another case, had been commenced and briefly recited the charges contained in the informations. The story concluded with a statement that In a District Court hearing June 10, Dobbins was referred to as a `wholesaler' of marijuana. In our review of the record we noticed that the statement quoted is somewhat inaccurate inasmuch as the only proceeding reflected was the holding on that date of a preliminary hearing of the complaint filed with the justice of the peace. That, however, is not the basis of defendant's contention that he was prejudiced by such adverse publicity and that the trial court erred in refusing to grant a continuance or mistrial. He claims that the story was highly prejudicial for the reason that it referred to defendant as a wholesaler of marijuana. The record indicates that the story was brought to the attention of the jury panel during the proceedings on voir dire, which were not reported and as a consequence the record is most obscure as to what occurred at that time. Apparently a motion was made for a continuance or for the granting of a mistrial and was denied. The motion was renewed, however, during the trial and during the argument thereon the county attorney stated that none of the individual jurors when asked if they had read the story indicated that they had done so. On the other hand, counsel for the defendant stated to the court that from one-third to one-half of the panel indicated it had read the article. The trial judge again denied the motion and stated that he was satisfied that the Jury was uninfluenced by the reported publicity. The burden to show that prejudice resulted from the ruling was, of course, upon the defendant and from the foregoing it clearly appears that no such showing has been made. Defendant in fact has failed to develop such point in his brief or argument but undertakes to bring his claim within the rule of inherent prejudicial publicity as laid down by the United States Supreme Court in Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 333, 86 S.Ct. 1507, 16 L.Ed.2d 600. A most cursory reading of the opinion in that case discloses that the single story before us does not in any way approach the adverse and erroneous publicity that the Supreme Court dealt with in that case and even the earlier case of Estes v. State of Texas, 381 U.S. 532, 85 S.Ct. 1628, 14 L.Ed.2d 543, rehearing denied 382 U.S. 875, 86 S.Ct. 18, 15 L.Ed.2d 118, on remand Tex.Cr.App., 396 S.W.2d 123. In addition we might say that the story in and of itself, other than the inaccuracy pointed out, is a fair statement concerning the proceeding and as was stated in Sheppard, supra, 86 S.Ct. at 1522, there is nothing that proscribes the press from reporting events that transpire in the courtroom. Consequently we find no error in the trial judge's ruling.