Court Opinion

ID: 9740442
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:35:42.794271+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:18.303466
License: Public Domain

PEDERSON, Justice,
concurring specialty-
I concur in the opinion that Justice Sand has authored for the majority. There are no constitutional rights of the news media involved and Judge Jorgensen did not commit an “abuse of discretion” as we have defined that term. Maier v. Holzer, 123 N.W.2d 29, 32 (N.D.1963). I would add the following two comments:
1. To the extent that KFGO Radio, Inc. v. Rothe, 298 N.W.2d 505 (N.D.1980) holds that Article I, Section 22 of the North Dakota Constitution (now Article I, Section 9) requires that all proceedings in court be “open” (even a state’s attorney’s inquiry under § 11-16-15, NDCC), it is overruled.
2. When jurisdiction is returned, permitting Judge Jorgensen to proceed, he ought to reschedule the preliminary hearing as an “open” hearing in the interest of justice and good order, leaving the question of prejudicial disclosures in the lap of the prosecutor and the question of waiving the hearing in the lap of defense counsel, where they belong.