Court Opinion

ID: 9779472
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 21:51:42.5742+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:26.658092
License: Public Domain

GONZALEZ, Justice,
concurring.
Because as a matter of law the published information is of legitimate public concern, I concur in the Court’s opinion and judgment. I write separately, however, to caution judges against putting themselves or jurors in the role of editors by second-guessing editorial decisions. I am concerned that blue-penciling of news articles by judges or juries will have a chilling effect on the freedom of the press to determine what is a matter of legitimate public concern.
In Florida Star v. B.J.F., 491 U.S. 524, 109 S.Ct. 2603, 105 L.Ed.2d 443 (1989), a rape victim, B.J.F., sued the Florida Star newspaper under a Florida statute which made it unlawful to print the name of a sexual offense victim. Id. at 526 & n. 1, 109 S.Ct. at 2605 n. 1. The article, which identified B.J.F. by name, read:
[B.J.F.] reported on Thursday, October 20, she was crossing Brentwood Park, which is in the 500 block of Golfair Boulevard, en-route to her bus stop, when an unknown black man ran up behind the lady and placed a knife to her neck and told her not to yell. The suspect then undressed the lady and had sexual intercourse with her before fleeing the scene with her 60 cents, Timex watch and gold necklace. Patrol efforts have been suspended concerning this incident because of a lack of evidence.
Id. at 527,109 S.Ct. at 2606. The newspaper derived the information for the article from a lawfully obtained police report which disclosed B.J.F.’s name. Id. The United States Supreme Court held that on the facts of the case, imposing liability on the newspaper violated the First Amendment, even though the paper printed the victim’s full name in violation of the statute. Id. at 541, 109 S.Ct. at 2613.
In contrast, in this case, Star-Telegram did not identify Jane Doe by name. Rather, the newspaper published certain details about Jane Doe which she contends make her readily identifiable. The information which Doe alleges invaded her privacy appeared in the following articles, quoted in full below:
Rape Suspect Arrested in Oklahoma DRiving Victim’s Car
FORT WORTH — A 28-year-old Fort Worth man is in custody in Oklahoma after police there found him driving a 1984 black Jaguar owned by a Fort Worth woman who was terrorized and raped in her East Side home Sunday.
Fort Worth police have issued an auto theft warrant for the man and are awaiting extradition proceedings.
Police said the suspect lives in an apartment complex three blocks from the victim. Her name and address are being withheld.
Sexual Assault Sgt. C.D. Timmons said the suspect likely targeted the woman who frequented a convenience store near his home.
Police answering a call at 2:41 a.m. heard the woman screaming from inside the home, Timmons said. She had been tied to the bed with strips of bed sheets.
The woman, 46, was alone Sunday night. She told police she had forgotten to turn on a security system.
*476About 12:30 a.m., the woman said she was awakened by a butcher knife-wielding man who hid his face with a ski mask. Police speculated he entered through a window.
When she attempted to reach for a gun in a night table drawer, he overpowered her, threatening to whip her with it, police said.
Then he repeatedly raped her, terrorizing her with the knife, police said.
The woman begged to be allowed to take medication, and the man gave her a pill and some water. Afterward he forced her to perform a sexual act and tied her with the bed sheets.
He then left, taking nearly $100, personal effects and her car.
She was able to struggle free and called 911.
“She’s very lucky to be alive,” Timmons said. ■
Yesterday, Oklahoma City police stopped a man who was driving a black Jaguar, Timmons said. There were four other people in the car who were wanted for various parole violations, he said.
The suspect is a construction worker who apparently was recently paroled from Texas Department of Corrections on an aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon conviction in 1983, Timmons said. He was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.
Betsy C.M. Tong, FORT WORTH Star-TeleGRAM, Sept. 27,1989 (p.m. ed.).
Extradition Sought FoR Man Arrested Driving Rape Victim’s Cap
FORT .WORTH — A 28-year-old Fort Worth man was in custody yesterday in Oklahoma City after police there found him driving a 1984 black Jaguar owned by a woman who was terrorized and raped in her East Side home Monday.
Fort Worth police have issued an auto theft warrant for the man and are awaiting extradition.
Police said the suspect lives in an apartment complex just three blocks from the 46-year-old victim, whose name and address are being withheld.
Sgt. C.D. Timmons said the woman probably was targeted because she frequently shopped at a nearby convenience store.
Police answering a call about 2:41 a.m. Monday heard the woman screaming from inside the home, which is in a white-collar neighborhood, Timmons said. She had been tied to the bed with strips of sheets.
The woman, who owns a travel agency, was alone Sunday night. She told police she had forgotten to turn on a security system before going to bed sometime after 11 p.m.
About 12:30 a.m., a butcher knife-wielding man wearing a ski mask entered her house through a window.
When the woman attempted to reach for a gun in a night stand by her bed, he overpowered her and took the gun. He threatened to beat her with it, police said.
Then he repeatedly raped her, terrorizing her with the knife, police said.
The woman begged to be allowed to take medication, so the man gave her a pill and some water. Afterward he forced her to perform a sexual act and tied her with the bed sheets, police said.
He then left, taking nearly $100, personal effects and her car, police said.
She was able to struggle free and call 911.
“She’s very lucky to be alive,” Timmons said. Police are awaiting results of a rape exam.
On Tuesday, police in Oklahoma City stopped a man who was driving a black Jaguar through a high-crime neighborhood on the northeast part of the city, said Sgt. Wimpy Martin of that city’s auto theft unit. Martin declined to provide additional details of the arrest, saying the case is under investigation.
The suspect has a history of violence, parole officials said.
[H]e was convicted of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon in 1983. He was sentenced to 15 years in the Texas Department of Corrections. He also has a *4771981 burglary conviction in Taylor County (Abilene).
The man was paroled to Tarrant County on July 7. He was required to check in six times a month and to submit to urinalysis on random visits, said parole supervisor Larry Hermanee.
A parole officer last saw the suspect Sept. 23, one day before the rape of the 46-year-old woman.
“Once again we have an offense that occurs the day after we see the man,” Hermanee said. Another parolee, Kenneth Reed Smith, was recently charged with the murder and rape of a 14-year-old girl. He had visited his parole officer before the Sept. 15 slaying.
The suspect in the latest rape told parole officers he was self-employed.
Id., Sept. 28,1989 (a.m. ed.), at 27.
After Star-Telegram printed these articles, Doe’s assailant was arrested, indicted, and tried for his heinous offense. The state’s criminal prosecutor disclosed Doe’s true identity several times — in the indictment, in a motion in limine, and in the jury charge. Star-Telegram, Inc. v. Walker, 834 S.W.2d 54, 56 (Tex.1992) (orig. proceeding). Although Texas law permits a rape victim to elect to have a pseudonym used in place of her true name in all records of the ease, Doe did not make such an election until October 3,1989.
As I wrote in Valenzuela v. Aquino, 853 S.W.2d 512, 519 (Tex.1993) (Gonzalez, J., dissenting), “The uncertainty of not knowing where one might be penalized for expressive speech would have an unacceptable chilling effect on the right of free speech.” The same rationale applies to the constitutional right of freedom of the press. See Florida Star, 491 U.S. at 535-36, 109 S.Ct. at 2610-11 (noting that an important First Amendment concern is the danger that journalists will excessively self-censor if they can be held liable for damages for printing truthful information obtained by legal means). Journalists should be able “to respond to journalistic exigencies” without fear of liability imposed by aggressive judicial editing. Ross v. Midwest Communications, Inc., 870 F.2d 271, 275 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 935, 110 S.Ct. 326, 107 L.Ed.2d 316 (1989). Thus, judges should be wary of substituting their or a jury’s judgment for that of a newspaper publisher in cases such as this which involve matters of legitimate public concern. Anonsen v. Donahue, 857 S.W.2d 700, 706 (Tex.App. — Houston [1st Dist.] 1993, writ denied) (quoting Dresbach v. Doubleday & Co., 518 F.Supp. 1285, 1290-91 (D.D.C.1981)), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 114 S.Ct. 2135, 128 L.Ed.2d 865 (1994).
In balancing the rights of the parties to this suit, I believe that under these facts, the First Amendment right of freedom of the press prevails over Doe’s right of privacy.