Court Opinion

ID: 9710521
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:11:15.174723+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:57.367917
License: Public Domain

MORAN, J., dissenting. On Thursday, March 11, 1965, three days before the commencement of the trial, the newspaper in question carried an account of the trial to be held on the following Monday, described the crime that these defendants were charged with and then went on to say that they had been arrested on April 2, 1964, in connection with the robbery of the Canteen Company of Alton, Illinois, having eluded officers in the underbrush in the bottoms near Old Ripley during the day. Three-fourths of the jury panel were thus informed that this trio was connected with a robbery unrelated to the crime for which they were to be tried. Both the Federal and State Constitutions specifically provide that an accused has a right to a speedy public trial by an impartial jury. Chapter 38, paragraph 14-4 (b) allows the granting of a continuance when pretrial publicity has caused a prejudice against the defendant on the part of the community. It would have been prejudicial misconduct for the State’s Attorney to show that the defendants were charged or sought in connection with the robbery described in the newspaper article. However, we say that it is not prejudicial to the defendants when a newspaper informs the jury before the trial about the very things which the prosecution is precluded from bringing out. Innocent or guilty, a defendant is entitled to due process of law. These defendants were denied due process of law because they were not tried by an impartial jury. I would therefore send the case back to Bond County for a new trial.