Opinion ID: 2071417
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Right to Trial Publicity

Text: The defendant's last argument alleges that the trial justice erred in denying his request for televised proceedings. The defendant, together with a local cable company, argued that electronic media coverage was included in his right to a public trial under both the Rhode Island and the United States Constitutions. The defendant also argued that televised coverage of the trial would provide him with a more balanced public presentation. The state expressed concern about whether television coverage of the trial would upset or unnerve the jury; ten of the fourteen jurors had objected to the idea when questioned by the trial justice. Nevertheless, the state indicated that it would defer to the trial justice's discretion on the matter. As was previously stated, the trial justice denied the request, stating that he feared the networks would manipulate the video by taking short segments out of context. Moreover, he feared that the presence of cameras and the attendant publicity would serve to prejudice defendant unduly as they would serve as a constant reminder to the jury that defendant had previously murdered four people. On appeal, defendant acknowledges that the decision to allow television coverage is a decision that rests within the sound discretion of the individual trial justice. The defendant urges this court to revisit the issue, arguing that the electronic age of contemporary society requires that defendant's right to a public trial afforded by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 10, of the Rhode Island Constitution include the televised coverage of his trial. The state responds by simply stating that the Sixth Amendment does not afford a defendant a right to televised coverage, citing United States v. Hastings, 695 F.2d 1278, 1284 (11th Cir.1983). Article VII of the Supreme Court Rules, Rules of Media Access, speaks directly to this issue:  The trial justice may in his or her sole discretion prohibit the video recording, broadcasting and/or photographing of a participant with a film, videotape, or still camera on the trial justice's own motion or on the request of a participant in a court proceeding. The trial justice may entirely exclude media coverage of any proceeding or trial over which he or she presides in his or her sole discretion. From any decision by a trial justice excluding the media in whole or in part, or limiting the photographing or recording of a participant in a court proceeding, there shall be no review by the Presiding Justice, Chief Judge of the trial justice's court, or by the Supreme Court.  Id. at Canon 11. (Emphases added.) Canon 11 expressly prohibits a review of the trial justice's decision to prohibit cameras in the courtrooms of this state. Because we decline to find any constitutional implications inherent in the exercise of a trial justice's discretionary decision to permit media coverage of that court's proceedings, we need go no further. See Chandler v. Florida, 449 U.S. 560, 569, 101 S.Ct. 802, 807, 66 L.Ed.2d 740, 748 (1981); Nixon v. Warner Communications, Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 610, 98 S.Ct. 1306, 1318, 55 L.Ed.2d 570, 578 (1978); In re Extension of Media Coverage For A Further Experimental Period, 472 A.2d 1232, 1234 (R.I.1984).