Opinion ID: 2341817
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Origins of the MRPC 3.6

Text: Criminal justice must be carried out in the courtroom. [12] As Justice Holmes declared in Patterson v. Colorado, 205 U.S. 454, 462, 27 S.Ct. 556, 558, 51 L.Ed. 879, 881 (1907), [t]he theory of our system is that the conclusions to be reached in a case will be induced only by evidence and argument in open court, and not by any outside influence, whether of private talk or public print. The constitutional underpinnings for this concept reside in the Sixth Amendment's right to a fair trial, made applicable to our State through the Fourteenth Amendment. [13] Ristaino v. Ross, 424 U.S. 589, 595 n. 6, 96 S.Ct. 1017, 1020 n. 6, 47 L.Ed.2d 258, 263 n. 6 (1976) (A criminal defendant in a state court is guaranteed an impartial jury by the Sixth Amendment as applicable to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment.) (citing Duncan v. Louisiana, 391 U.S. 145, 88 S.Ct. 1444, 20 L.Ed.2d 491 (1968)); see Estes v. Texas, 381 U.S. 532, 540, 85 S.Ct. 1628, 1632, 14 L.Ed.2d 543, 549 (1965) (describing the right to a fair trial as the most fundamental of all freedoms). Article 21 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights also guarantees the right to a fair trial in all criminal prosecutions. [14] The text of the Sixth Amendment makes clear that a fair trial consists of numerous components, including, but certainly not limited to, the rights of an accused to a public trial and impartial jury. These components alone, of course, do not necessarily ensure a fair trial, as Chief Justice Warren explained: It has been held ... that the fundamental conception of a fair trial includes many of the specific provisions of the Sixth Amendment.... But it also has been agreed that neither the Sixth nor the Fourteenth Amendment is to be read formalistically, for the clear intent of the amendments is that these specific rights be enjoyed at a constitutional trial. In the words of Justice Holmes, even though every form [be] preserved, the forms may amount to no more than an empty shell when considered in the context or setting in which they were actually applied. Id. at 560, 85 S.Ct. at 1641, 14 L.Ed.2d at 560 (Warren C.J., concurring). Thus, even where a court has observed all of the Sixth Amendment formalities, it is possible for a defendant to be deprived of a fair trial if circumstances occurring outside the courtroom taint the proceedings. See Rideau v. Louisiana, 373 U.S. 723, 83 S.Ct. 1417, 10 L.Ed.2d 663 (1963) (holding that a defendant's fundamental due process rights had been violated because a local television station had broadcasted his confession, and he was denied a change of venue). One outside circumstance that may affect a defendant's right to a fair trial and, specifically, his right to an impartial jury, occurs when an attorney makes a publicized, out-of-court statement about the defendant's case. This is particularly true because attorneys occupy a special role as participants in the criminal justice system, and, as a result, the public may view their speech as authoritative and reliable. Attorneys involved in a particular case have greater access to information through discovery, the ability to converse privately with knowledgeable witnesses, and an enhanced understanding of the circumstances and issues. Their unique role and extensive access to information lends a degree of credibility to their speech that an ordinary citizen's speech may not usually possess. Comments by prosecuting attorneys, in particular, have the inherent authority of the government and are more likely to influence the public. When such seemingly credible information reaches the ears or eyes of the public, the jury pool may become contaminated, greatly diminishing the court's ability to assemble an impartial jury. The defendant's right to a fair trial, thus, may be compromised. See Joan C. Bohl, Extrajudicial Attorney Speech and Pending Criminal Prosecutions: The Investigatory Commission Meets A.B.A. Model Rule 3.6, 44 KAN. L.REV. 951, 973-74 (1996) (discussing how attorney speech differs from the speech of other individuals). Limiting extrajudicial attorney speech to preserve a fair trial, however, can be accomplished only in a way that is consistent with the fundamental right to free expression under the First Amendment. In general, the First Amendment applies equally to an ordinary citizen and an attorney, as long as the attorney plays no lawyerly role in the matter under comment. See CHARLES W. WOLFRAM, MODERN LEGAL ETHICS at 632 (1986). On the other hand, when the attorney has some professional relationship to a matter, the attorney's freedom to speak about it is not as broad. For instance, inside the courtroom, the rules of evidence and principles of relevance place rigid restrictions upon what an attorney may say, and when and how he or she may speak. Even outside the courtroom, the speech of a lawyer may be curtailed to an extent greater than an ordinary citizen's. In the arena of attorney advertising, the Supreme Court has upheld a state's thirty-day waiting period for solicitation letters by plaintiffs' personal injury lawyers, see Florida Bar v. Went For It, Inc., 515 U.S. 618, 115 S.Ct. 2371, 132 L.Ed.2d 541 (1995), and a state's ban on in-person attorney solicitations, Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Ass'n, 436 U.S. 447, 98 S.Ct. 1912, 56 L.Ed.2d 444 (1978). In 1908, the American Bar Association first attempted to control the ill effects of attorney-generated trial publicity through the development of professional standards entitled Canons of Professional Ethics (hereinafter the ABA Canons). Many states adopted the ABA Canons, including Canon 20, which [g]enerally ... condemned newspaper publications by a lawyer regarding a pending case because such publications may interfere with a fair trial in the Courts and otherwise prejudice the due administration of justice. [15] See Gentile v. State Bar of Nevada, 501 U.S. 1030, 1066, 111 S.Ct. 2720, 2740, 115 L.Ed.2d 888, 918 (1991); Alberto Bernabe-Riefkohl, Silence is Golden: The New Illinois Rules on Attorney Extrajudicial Speech, 33 LOY. U. CHI. L.J. 323, 331 (2002) (hereinafter Bernabe-Riefkohl). The Maryland State Bar Association formally adopted the ABA Cannons in 1922. Canons of Ethics, Adopted by the Maryland State Bar Association, Annual Session 1922 at 1. Despite the widespread adoption of the ABA Canons, trial publicity continued to affect defendants' Sixth Amendment rights and, consequently, gained the attention of the Supreme Court during the 1950s and 1960s. The Court dealt with the detriments of excessive media involvement in cases by reversing a number of criminal convictions on the ground that excessive trial publicity deprived the defendants of due process. Estes v. Texas, 381 U.S. 532, 85 S.Ct. 1628, 14 L.Ed.2d 543 (1965) (holding that a defendant had been denied due process because a pre-trial hearing had been televised live and then rebroadcast, and because the court proceedings had been disrupted by the presence of the media); Rideau v. Louisiana, 373 U.S. 723, 83 S.Ct. 1417, 10 L.Ed.2d 663 (1963) (reversing a conviction after the defendant had been denied a change of venue even though a local television station had broadcast his recorded confession three times, and 106,000 of the estimated 150,000-person community viewed the broadcast); Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 81 S.Ct. 1639, 6 L.Ed.2d 751 (1961) (reversing a conviction where pre-trial publicity distributed in the vicinity of the trial included, inter alia, media accounts of the defendant's juvenile record, the confessions to several murders, and previous court-martial proceedings); Marshall v. United States, 360 U.S. 310, 79 S.Ct. 1171, 3 L.Ed.2d 1250 (1959) (reversing a conviction because seven of twelve jurors had been exposed to news accounts of evidence that was not admitted at trial). The leading case during this era, which identified the need for trial publicity reform and shaped the American Bar Association's (hereinafter ABA) remedial measures, was Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 333, 86 S.Ct. 1507, 16 L.Ed.2d 600 (1966). There, the Court, on due process grounds, reversed the murder conviction of Sam Sheppard, whose high-profile trial had been preceded and pervaded by a media frenzy. Id. at 363, 86 S.Ct. at 1522-23, 16 L.Ed.2d at 621. Newspapers had documented Sheppard's alleged refusal to cooperate with investigating officials and had published articles discussing incriminating evidence that was never admitted at trial. Id. at 338-41, 86 S.Ct. at 1509-11, 16 L.Ed.2d at 606-08. During trial, members of the media frequently moved in and out of the courtroom, causing so much noise and confusion that it became difficult to hear lawyers and witnesses. Id. at 344, 86 S.Ct. at 1513, 16 L.Ed.2d at 610. Furthermore, reporters had crowded the defense table at trial, making it very difficult for Sheppard to have private discussions with his counsel. Id. Despite the chaotic conditions, the trial judge refused to allow a change of venue and failed to take steps to control the adverse effects of the publicity. Id. at 354 n. 9, 358-59, 86 S.Ct. at 1518 n. 9, 1520, 16 L.Ed.2d at 615 n. 9, 618. The Supreme Court admonished the trial court in Sheppard for its failure to control the extrajudicial publicity: The fact that many of the prejudicial news items can be traced to the prosecution, as well as the defense, aggravates the judge's failure to take any action. Effective control of these sourcesconcededly within the court's powermight well have prevented the divulgence of inaccurate information, rumors, and accusations that made up much of the inflammatory publicity.... Id. at 361, 86 S.Ct. at 1521, 16 L.Ed.2d at 619. The Court suggested how the trial judge could have minimized the prejudicial publicity, including proscribing extrajudicial statements by lawyers and other trial participants, requesting local officials to implement regulations with respect to the dissemination of trial information, and warning news media about the impropriety of publicizing material not introduced at the proceeding. Id. at 361-62, 86 S.Ct. at 1521-22, 16 L.Ed.2d at 619-20. Emphasizing the prejudicial effect of news media on fair trials, the Court iterated: Due process requires that the accused receive a trial by an impartial jury free from outside influences. Given the pervasiveness of modern communications and the difficulty of effacing prejudicial publicity from the minds of the jurors, the trial courts must take strong measures to ensure that the balance is never weighed against the accused.... [W]here there is a reasonable likelihood that prejudicial news prior to trial will prevent a fair trial, the judge should continue until the threat abates, or transfer it to another county not so permeated with publicity. Id. at 362-63, 86 S.Ct. at 1522, 16 L.Ed.2d at 620. Moreover, the Court recognized that repeatedly reversing convictions would not suffice as a long-term remedy for the harm of trial publicity. The Court recommended an alternative solution: But we must remember that reversals are but palliatives; the cure lies in those remedial measures that will prevent the prejudice at its inception. The courts must take such steps by rule and regulation that will protect their processes from prejudicial outside interferences. Neither prosecutors, counsel for defense, the accused, witnesses, court staff nor enforcement officers coming under the jurisdiction of the court should be permitted to frustrate its function. Collaboration between counsel and the press as to information affecting the fairness of a criminal trial is not only subject to regulation, but it is highly censurable and worthy of disciplinary measures. Id. at 363, 86 S.Ct. at 1522, 16 L.Ed.2d at 620. In response to Sheppard and as a culmination of four years of meetings by a committee appointed by the ABA to develop standards to regulate the criminal justice system, the ABA in 1968 introduced Standards Relating to Fair Trial and Fair Press (hereinafter the ABA Standards). ABA STANDARDS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE FAIR TRIAL AND FREE PRESS ix (3rd ed.1991). ABA Standard 1-1, which merely set aspirational goals for lawyers, stated that it was a duty of a lawyer to prevent the release of information for dissemination that is reasonably likely to interfere with a fair trial. [16] In addition, the ABA included a disciplinary rule related to trial publicity in its newly proposed Model Code of Professional Responsibility of 1969 (hereinafter ABA Model Code of 1969). Bernabe-Riefkohl at 337. Disciplinary Rule 7-107 of the ABA Model Code of 1969 established a detailed set of mandatory guidelines to be used by lawyers considering the propriety of extrajudicial statements. Id. The guidance of Rule 7-107 differed depending on the stage of the case and the nature of the proceeding, but it generally banned all extrajudicial statements that had a reasonable likelihood of interfering with a trial or prejudicing the administration of justice. In 1970, Maryland adopted the ABA Model Code of 1969 verbatim and in its entirety. In 1983, the ABA again proposed a new model code in an effort to address concerns that the reasonable likelihood standard of ABA Standard 1-1 and Disciplinary Rule 7-107 might not meet the requirements of the First Amendment. See Chi. Council of Lawyers v. Bauer, 522 F.2d 242 (7th Cir.1975), cert. denied sub nom., Cunningham v. Chi. Council of Lawyers, 427 U.S. 912, 96 S.Ct. 3201, 49 L.Ed.2d 1204 (1976) (holding that a local criminal rule nearly identical to ABA Standard 1-1 and similar to Disciplinary Rule 7-107 violated the First Amendment as a vague and overbroad restriction on speech). Rule 3.6 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct (hereinafter the ABA Model Rules) attempted to regulate trial publicity in a way that constitutionally balanced the lawyers' right to free expression and an accused's right to a fair trial. [17] MRPC 3.6, which first appeared in the Maryland Rules in 1986 and presently governs trial publicity in Maryland, is identical to this initial version of ABA Model Rule 3.6.