Opinion ID: 432005
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Adverse Publicity

Text: 12 On appeal, Gigante renews his arguments that the publicity was so prejudicial as to require a mistrial and that a hearing should have been held to determine the source of the leak of the information to the press. He cites as grounds for mistrial the sensational nature of the article, the references linking Gigante to organized crime and to loansharking, the timing of the article's release, the credibility of the newspaper's source, the pervasiveness of the medium, and the evidence of the jurors' exposure to the article. As to the need for a hearing, Gigante states that the circumstances strongly suggest[ ] possible prosecutorial complicity (Gigante brief on appeal at 25), and challenges the court's reliance on the uncross-examined and conclusory assertion of the United States Attorney that no prosecutor had been involved. (Id.) We are unpersuaded. 13 The trial court has broad discretion in determining whether prejudice requiring the grant of a mistrial has resulted from publicity during a trial. United States v. Persico, 425 F.2d 1375, 1382 (2d Cir.) cert. denied, 400 U.S. 869, 91 S.Ct. 102, 27 L.Ed.2d 108 (1970). Each case must turn on its own facts, and the essential question is whether the jurors retained the requisite impartiality. Id. The trial judge is in the best position to make such an evaluation. In a case in which (1) the publicity does not focus directly on the issue of the defendant's guilt or innocence with respect to the charges in the ongoing trial, (2) much of the potentially prejudicial matter has been adduced as competent evidence at trial, (3) the trial judge has taken prompt action to determine the effect of the publicity on the jurors, and (4) the judge has given or offered to give cautionary instructions, we will rarely second-guess his assessment that the jury's impartiality was not prejudicially affected by the publicity. 14 In the present case the trial judge was satisfied at trial that none of the jurors was prejudicially affected by the Daily News article, and we see no basis in the record to disturb his conclusion. The court promptly questioned each juror and received answers it considered to be straightforward (Trial Transcript at 1561), candid[ ] and forthright[ ] (June 10 Decision at 2), and that showed the jurors were fully aware of their responsibilities and obligations, id. The court's conclusion that the jurors were not prejudicially affected was based in part on the jurors' responses and in part on the court's own view of the likely effect of the article. The court took into account the facts that the article dealt with an investigation unrelated to the present case (a view also expressed by one of the jurors), that the lengthy article's mentions of Gigante were brief, and that the jury had already heard considerable evidence to the effect that Gigante was a member of organized crime and was prone to violence. 15 In denying Gigante's posttrial motion relating to the publicity, the court found confirmation for its earlier views in the conduct and outcome of the jury's deliberations. The jury deliberated for four days, and during that time it asked to review selected exhibits, tapes, and portions of testimony. It proceeded to reach verdicts of guilty on some counts and not guilty on other counts, indicating that the jurors had in fact, as they had indicated they would, approached their task responsibly, objectively and conscientiously. Id. at 5. In all the circumstances we see no abuse of discretion in the district court's denial of the motions for a mistrial. 16 Nor is there any merit in Gigante's contention that the district court should have held a hearing as to whether the publicity was attributable to prosecutorial misconduct. The district court relied not only on the letter of the United States Attorney of May 13, 1983, but also on the June 3, 1983 affidavit of the Executive Assistant United States Attorney reporting on her investigation of the events leading to the disclosure. These documents provided an adequate basis for the court to conclude that the office responsible for the present prosecution played no role whatever in the misfiling of the FBI affidavit that apparently was read by the Daily News reporter and used as the basis for the article. Gigante has made no showing of prosecutorial misconduct, and no hearing was required.