Court Opinion

ID: 9627478
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 08:44:49.388008+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:44:01.868374
License: Public Domain

*525DANIELS, District Judge
(Concurring and Dissenting).
I concur with the majority in granting the extraordinary writ on the basis that the magistrate made no written findings. I dissent from that portion of the opinion which sets forth the procedure to be followed in closing a preliminary hearing, as I believe the standard adopted is incorrect for preliminary hearings.
Initially, it is important to note that the right here asserted is not that of the accused. In this case, both the accused and the prosecutor asked to close the hearing. The accused was concerned about his right to a fair trial; the prosecutor expressed concern for the reputations of the victims. Whether the accused has an absolute right to demand an open preliminary hearing is a different question. The Sixth Amendment right to a public trial was intended to guard against “star chamber” abuses that may result from secret proceedings. But the news media have no standing to assert this right. As the Supreme Court said in Gannett Co. v. DePasquale, 443 U.S. 368, 99 S.Ct. 2898, 61 L.Ed.2d 608 (1979):
In an adversary system of criminal justice, the public interest in the administration of justice is protected by the participants in the litigation. Thus, because of the great public interest in jury trials as the preferred mode of factfinding in criminal cases, a defendant cannot waive a jury trial without the consent of the prosecutor and judge. But if the defendant waives his right to a jury trial, and the prosecutor and the judge consent, it could hardly be seriously argued that a member of the public could demand a jury trial because of the societal interest in that mode of fact-finding. Similarly, while a defendant cannot convert his right to a speedy trial into a right to compel an indefinite postponement, a member of the general public surely has no right to prevent a continuance in order to vindicate the public interest in the efficient administration of justice. In short, our adversary system of criminal justice is premised upon the proposition that the public interest is fully protected by the participants in the litigation.
443 U.S. at 383-84, 99 S.Ct. at 2907-08 (citations and footnote omitted).
Here Kearns-Tribune is asserting an independent right based not upon the Sixth Amendment, but solely upon the free speech and press guarantees of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 1, § 15 of the Utah Constitution.
Secondly, it is important to note that this case does not involve a prior restraint to speak or to print or disseminate news; such a restraint could only be imposed under very stringent requirements. Rather, thé right sought to be protected is the right to gather information. Certainly this is an important right, but it is subject to reasonable limitations. For example, in Zemel v. Rusk, 381 U.S. 1, 85 S.Ct. 1271, 14 L.Ed.2d 179 (1965), the Supreme Court upheld the government’s refusal to validate passports to Cuba even though the free flow of information was thereby restricted. In that case, the Court emphasized that “[t]he right to speak and publish does not carry with it the unrestrained right to gather information.” 381 U.S. at 17, 85 S.Ct. at 1281. Certainly, freedom of the press would have little meaning if the right to gather information were unduly restricted. But gathering information is a right secondary to the right to speak and publish and is subject to restriction upon a less stringent standard than these more fundamental rights.
The First Amendment secures the right of the public (including the media) to be present at a criminal trial. This presumption of openness can be overcome only when it is shown that the accused’s right to a fair trial is in jeopardy. The question here presented is whether this same right and presumption of openness extends to a preliminary hearing. I am convinced that there are significant historical and practical differences between a trial and a preliminary hearing, and different standards should be applied.
*526THE PUBLIC RIGHT OF ACCESS TO JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS
In 1979, the United States Supreme Court decided Gannett Co. v. DePasquale, 443 U.S. 368, 99 S.Ct. 2898, 61 L.Ed.2d 608 (1979). This case involved the closure of a pretrial suppression hearing. The defendant requested a closed hearing, and the prosecution agreed. No media representative objected at the time, but three days later the newspaper requested that the transcript be made public. The trial judge accepted briefs and heard argument, but refused to release the transcript, and the newspaper appealed. In addition to Justice Stewart’s majority opinion, there were three concurring opinions and a dissent joined by four justices. Although the narrow holding of the case is that a trial judge does have discretion to close a pretrial suppression hearing, the language of the opinion is much broader, on its face at least, applying to “pretrial proceedings.”
Although this is the most nearly on point of any United States Supreme Court case, its clarity is obscured because of the Court’s inability to speak with one voice. Chief Justice Burger’s concurring opinion emphasized the historical difference between trials and pretrial proceedings. His view seems to be that there is no public right of access to pretrial proceedings. Justice Powell’s opinion recognizes a First Amendment right to open pretrial proceedings, but asserts that this right was adequately considered in the trial judge’s decision to restrict access to the proceeding. Justice Rehnquist appears to be of the view that there is absolutely no First Amendment right to open judicial proceedings and the trial judge has discretion to close the hearing for any reason. The four dissenters assert that the Sixth Amendment provides the public a constitutional right of access to criminal proceedings.
In 1980, the United States Supreme Court examined the question of the public’s right of access to a criminal trial in Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia, 448 U.S. 555, 100 S.Ct. 2814, 65 L.Ed.2d 973 (1980). Again, both the accused and the prosecutor agreed to closure, but the news media objected. Like the case now before this Court, the trial judge held a hearing on the closure motion, where the media were allowed to present their arguments, but no evidence was presented and no written findings were made. The Court held that absent an overriding interest articulated in findings and supported by evidence, a trial judge may not exclude the public from a criminal trial. Id. at 581, 100 S.Ct. at 2829'.
In 1982, the issue came before the Court again in Globe Newspaper Co. v. Superior Court, 457 U.S. 596, 102 S.Ct. 2613, 73 L.Ed.2d 248 (1982). There the Court considered a state statute that required the exclusion of the public from the courtroom during the testimony of minor victims in sex offense trials. The Court held that the statute violated the First Amendment public right to access to criminal trials and was therefore invalid.
Most recently, the Court again confronted the problem of public access to criminal proceedings in Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court, — U.S.-, 104 S.Ct. 819, 78 L.Ed.2d 629 (1984). This case affirms that the First Amendment right of public access to criminal trials applies to voir dire questioning of the jury panel, which, of course, is an integral part of the trial itself.
In summary, the United States Supreme Court has clearly established a First Amendment right of public access to criminal trials, but has not extended this right to pretrial proceedings.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TRIAL AND A PRELIMINARY HEARING
A. Practical Differences
There is a significant practical difference between prejudicial publicity at a criminal trial and at a preliminary hearing. In a trial, including the jury voir dire, the identities of the jury or jury panel are known. There are several methods to shield this relatively small group from prejudicial information: they can be instructed not to read or listen to news reports for a period *527of time, or if necessary, they can be sequestered. But in a pretrial proceeding, the jury is not yet known. There is no possible way that information reported at a pretrial proceeding and disseminated into the community can be kept from potential jurors. Our procedure allows a defendant to be bound over upon evidence that will not be admissible at trial. Rule 7(d)(1), U.C.A., 1953, § 77-35-7(d)(l) (1982 Repl. Vol.), provides in part:
The findings of probable cause may be based on hearsay in whole or in part. Objections to evidence on the ground that it was acquired by unlawful means are not properly raised at the preliminary examination.
Because the preliminary examination occurs prior to the time that the defendant may properly raise the issue of ultimate admissibility, it is inevitable that some prejudicial information will be presented in many hearings.
It is true that persons who hear or read prejudicial information thus disseminated can be excluded from the jury. But at the very least, dissemination of such information into the community biases the jury panel in that it becomes necessary to exclude citizens who carefully read news reports or who are interested in following current events.
There is another important practical difference between trials and preliminary hearings. By the time of trial, an independent magistrate has made the determination that there is probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed and that the defendant is the person who committed it. Prior to the preliminary hearing, no such determination has been made. The charges are brought solely at the discretion of the prosecutor. One of the purposes of the preliminary hearing is to subject the charges to an independent magistrate to screen out those that are unfounded and to thereby preserve the accused’s reputation from public humiliation.
This purpose is defeated if the preliminary hearing is public. There is no practical way to prevent this. The magistrate could not know before she held the hearing whether or not she would find probable cause; that was the purpose of the hearing. She could only open or close the hearing based on a guess as to whether there would be evidence to sustain the charges.
B. Historical Differences
I recognize that ancient history is not necessarily the best basis to decide how rights in our society should be structured today. Nevertheless, in determining what rights rise to the level of constitutional protection, the historical backdrop of the First Amendment is an important interpre-tational aid. In each of the four United States Supreme Court cases involving public access to criminal proceedings, historical perspective was an important consideration. It is therefore important to recognize that in precolonial England and early colonial America, trials have always been public and preliminary examinations generally have not.
In the earliest reports of criminal trials in England can be found the seeds Of a tradition of open trials. A record of 1565 was quoted in the Press-Enterprise case. This early reporter explained that “there is nothing put in writing but the enditement”:
All the rest is doone openlie in the presence of the Judges, the Justices, the enquest, the prisoner, and so many as will or can come so neare as to heare it, and all depositions and witnesses given aloude, that all men may heare from the mouth of the depositors and witnesses what is saide.
T. Smith, De Republica Anglorum 96 (Alston ed. 1906), quoted in Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court, — U.S. at-, 104 S.Ct. at 822-23 (1984).
Conversely, Maitland wrote of preliminary examinations in 1885:
[The] preliminary examination of accused persons has gradually assumed a very judicial form.... The place in which it is held is indeed no “open court,” the public can be excluded if the magistrate *528thinks that the ends of justice will thus be best answered.
F. Maitland, Justice and Police 129 (1885), quoted in Gannett Co. v. DePasquale, 443 U.S. at 389, 99 S.Ct. at 2910.
In fact, in England it was held libelous for the press to publish preliminary examinations taken before a magistrate. In Rex v. Fisher, 2 Camp. 563, 570-71, 170 Eng. Rep. 1253, 1255 (N.P.1811), Lord Ellenborough held:
If any thing is more important than another in the administration of justice, it is that jurymen should come to the trial of those persons on whose guilt or innocence they are to decide, with minds pure and unprejudiced.... Trials at law, fairly reported, although they may occasionally prove injurious to individuals, have been held to be privileged. Let them continue so privileged.... But these preliminary examinations have no such privilege. Their only tendency is to prejudge those whom the law still presumes to be innocent, and to poison the sources of justice.
Quoted in Gannett Co. v. DePasquale, 443 U.S. at 389 n. 20, 99 S.Ct. at 2910 n. 20.
Similarly, in the United States, pretrial proceedings were generally closed if the defendant requested. See generally discussion id. at 390, 99 S.Ct. at 2911.
An examination of the historical roots of the Utah preliminary examination procedure also reveals a tradition of closed, rather than open, hearings. Prior to statehood, felony offenses were prosecuted by indictment. At statehood, the preliminary examination replaced the grand jury indictment. Utah Const, art. I, § 13. The preliminary examination fulfills the same purpose as the grand jury process in screening charges not supported by the evidence.
Obviously, grand jury proceedings are presumptively closed. Because a grand jury also has an investigatory function, there are additional reasons why its proceedings are closed to the public, but some of the same considerations apply. In Douglas Oil Co. v. Petrol Stops, Inc., 441 U.S. 211, 99 S.Ct. 1667, 60 L.Ed.2d 156 (1979), the Supreme Court upheld secrecy of grand jury proceedings, saying:
[B]y preserving the secrecy of the proceedings, we assure that persons who are accused but exonerated by the grand jury will not be held up to public ridicule.
441 U.S. at 219, 99 S.Ct. at 1673 (footnote omitted).
The preliminary examination is not the precise functional equivalent of a grand jury indictment, and the presumption of closure is not as strong. For example, the accused may demand that the preliminary examination be open; he may not make similar demands of the grand jury. Grand jury transcripts are sealed, even after the grand jury concludes its business; preliminary hearing transcripts should ordinarily be made public after the defendant is bound over and the criminal trial is concluded. Nevertheless, the historical roots of the preliminary hearing are in the grand jury, not in the criminal trial.
Further, from the beginning in Utah, preliminary examinations have been closed at the request of the defendant. The earliest statute after statehood provided:
The magistrate must also, upon request of the defendant, exclude from the examination every person except his clerk, the prosecutor and his counsel, the attorney general, the defendant and his counsel, and the officer having the defendant in custody.
Revised Statutes of Utah, § 4669 (1898).
This statute remained in effect with only minor changes until 1980, when it was replaced by our present statute, which allows either party to request that the hearing be closed and vests discretion in the magistrate, rather than providing for a closed hearing to the accused as a matter of right.
BURDEN OF PROOF FOR CLOSING A PRELIMINARY HEARING
It is true that there is a very important public interest in openness of public proceedings. To say there is a public interest, however, is not to say there is a constitutional right. This is especially true when *529that public interest collides with an equally important interest in the preservation of a fair trial and a relatively undamaged reputation for those who are accused but presumed innocent.
Both historically and logically, the balance tips to the public and the media for access to a criminal trial, but to the accused for preservation of his rights and good name when access to a preliminary hearing is in issue. The majority opinion improperly places the burden of proof in imposing upon the accused the duty to establish a likelihood of prejudice.
The preliminary hearing often takes place almost immediately after the defendant is charged. Unless good cause is shown, the hearing must be within ten days if the defendant is in custody and within thirty days if he is not. § 77-35-7(c). The California court observed in San Jose-Mercury News v. Municipal Court, 30 Cal.3d 498, 513, 638 P.2d 655, 664, 179 Cal.Rptr. 772, 781 (1982):
Often, therefore, it is impossible for defendant to make a showing that in his case prejudice is likely and closure justified. The evidence required may not be available at an early stage, when community reaction and the media’s attitude are not clear. Moreover, defendant may have little knowledge before the hearing of the prosecution’s strategy and evidence. That additionally clouds his ability to prove the value to him of closure.
(Footnote omitted.)
The North Dakota court observed in Dickinson Newspapers, Inc. v. Jorgensen, N.D., 338 N.W.2d 72, 80 (1983):
It may also become unbearably expensive for the accused to obtain, develop and introduce statistics regarding the media circulation and ratings and other such matters.
I believe that the burden of proof, when the accused’s right to a fair trial is in issue, should rest with the opponents of closure,
A. The Burden of Going Forward
When an accused person or the prosecution moves to close a preliminary hearing and a media representative or member of the public objects, the court should order an in camera proceeding to determine if the preliminary hearing should be closed. Only the parties to the litigation are entitled to access to this proceeding. If media representatives voluntarily agree not to disclose information learned at the in camera hearing, they may also be allowed to attend, but in the absence of such an agreement the magistrate need not allow the media or their representatives to attend the hearing.1 The prosecution should be required to proffer the evidence it plans to elicit to establish probable cause. The defense should be allowed to state why such evidence may be prejudicial. At this juncture, if the magistrate feels there is a reasonable possibility that the accused’s right to a fair trial may be prejudiced or the hearing should be closed for some other reason (such as concern for the accused’s reputation, the well-being of the victims, the safety of the witnesses, interference with ongoing investigations or the like), the magistrate should open the hearing and state on the record the reasons for the closure. This statement should be as specific as possible, consistent with the protection of the right sought to be protected. Seattle Times Co. v. Ishikawa, 97 Wash.2d 30, 640 P.2d 716 (1982).
At that point, the burden of going forward shifts to the opponents of closure to show that prejudice would not likely occur2 or that less-restrictive alternative means (such as a voluntary media-court agreement) could accomplish the same purpose.
*530This allocation of the burden of going forward accords with Justice Powell’s view in his concurring opinion in Gannett Co. v. DePasquale, 443 U.S. at 401, 99 S.Ct. at 2916:
At this hearing, it is the defendant’s responsibility as the moving party to make some showing that the fairness of his trial likely will be prejudiced by public access to the proceedings. Similarly, if the State joins in the closure request, it should be given the opportunity to show that public access would interfere with interests in fair proceedings or preserving the confidentiality of sensitive information. On the other hand, members of the press and public who object to closure have the responsibility of showing to the court’s satisfaction that alternative procedures are available that would eliminate the dangers shown by the defendant and the State.
B. The Burden of Persuasion
The burden of persuasion depends upon the right sought to be protected by closure. If the reason for closure is to protect the accused’s right to a fair trial, the burden is upon the opponents of closure to establish there is no reasonable likelihood of prejudice. If other interests are at stake, which are not constitutionally protected, such as the accused’s reputation or the interests of victims, witnesses, or law enforcement, the burden is upon the proponents of closure to show that there is a serious or imminent threat to that interest. Seattle Times Co. v. Ishikawa, 97 Wash.2d 30, 37-38, 640 P.2d 716, 720 (1982).
In any case, the magistrate must enter written findings that state the grounds for the action taken. Otherwise, there could be no meaningful appellate review. The findings should also state the scope and duration of any closure ordered. For example, if the transcript is sealed, a specific time when it will be opened should be articulated. Ordinarily, this would be no later than conclusion of the criminal trial.
I believe the magistrate should be given broad discretion to open or close preliminary hearings. Important rights to a free press and a fair trial must be balanced on a case-by-case basis. In a preliminary hearing, there are unusual threats posed to a fair trial that do not exist to the same extent in reporting the trial itself. That is the reason the burden of proof should be differently placed with a .preliminary hearing than with a trial. And, as a practical matter, there will be more times when closure of a preliminary hearing is found necessary than with the trial. In this case, the writ should be issued because there were no findings, and it is impossible to know what the magistrate took into consideration. When findings are made and reasons are articulated, however, the magistrate’s decision should be upheld unless there is an abuse of discretion.

. In camera hearings have been approved in Seattle Times Co. v. Ishikawa, 97 Wash.2d 30, 640 P.2d 716 (1982); Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Commonwealth, 222 Va. 574, 281 S.E.2d 915 (1981); Williams v. Stafford, Wyo., 589 P.2d 322 (1979).

. Commonly, this would consist of evidence of the size of the community, the circulation or rating of the media involved, the level of attention in the community, the number of persons in the jury pool and the like.