People v. Dela Rosa

1 Guam 538
Superior Court of Guam·Decided July 20, 1978·No. Criminal Case No. 116F-78·Published

Opinion

ABBATE, Presiding Judge

DECISION

This matter comes before the Court on defendant’s Motion For Change of Venue. The Motion was heard on July 12,1978, and decision was reserved.

Defendant bases his motion for change of venue on the ground that there is a reasonable likelihood, in the absence of such relief, that a fair and impartial trial cannot be had.

The right to a fair and impartial trial is derived from the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution. This provides that, “in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to ... an impartial jury . . .” U.S. Const. Amend. VI. Several procedural safeguards have been established in order to insure the defendant of a fair trial. A defendant may (1) seek a change in venue, (2) seek a continuance, (3) question the prospective jurors during voir dire as to whether they were influenced by the pre-trial publicity, (4) challenge the jurors for cause, (5) exercise his peremptory challenges, (6) challenge the jury panel, (7) obtain precautionary instructions from the Judge. Ignacio v. People of the Territory of Guam, 413 F.2d 513, 517 (1969).

Thus, a change of venue is not the exclusive procedural mechanism which can be utilized to assure the defendant of a fair trial. Rather, it appears that in only one case has the Supreme Court held that only a change of venue would secure an impartial trial for the defendant.

It was in Rideau v. Louisiana, 373 U.S. 723, 83 S.Ct. 1417 (1963), that the Supreme Court “explicitly held that [540]*540only a change of venue was constitutionally sufficient to assure the kind of impartial jury that is guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.” Groppi v. Wisconsin, 400 U.S. 511, 91 S.Ct. 490, 493 (1971). In that case, a moving picture with sound track had been made of an interview in jail between the sheriff and the defendant. In response to leading questions by the sheriff, the defendant admitted in detail the commission of the robbery, kidnapping and murder. This film was then televised three times to tens of thousands of people in the parish. The Court found that it was a denial of due process of law “to refuse the request for a change of venue, after the people of Calcasieu Parish had been exposed repeatedly and in depth to the spectacle of Rideau personally confessing in detail to crimes with which he was later to be charged.” Rideau v. Louisiana, 83 S.Ct. at 1419.

Absent an extreme factual situation akin to Rideau, a change of venue is not constitutionally mandated as the only procedure available to protect defendant’s right to an impartial trial. However, as noted, it is one of the procedures that can be utilized to obtain a fair trial. In ruling on a motion for change of venue based on pre-trial publicity, the trial court must determine whether the accused has been prejudiced in his right to a fair trial. Two tests have been applied. The first test is applicable in those cases in which the circumstances are inherently lacking in due process. In those instances, the Supreme Court has authorized a change of venue without a showing of actual prejudice. Illustrative of the application of the first test are the cases of Estes v. State of Texas, 381 U.S. 532, 85 S.Ct. 1628 (1965), and Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 350, 86 S.Ct. 1507 (1966).

In Estes v. State of Texas, supra, certain pre-trial proceedings and portions of the actual trial were televised. The Court noted that:

[541]*541Where pre-trial publicity of all kinds has created intense public feeling which is aggravated by the telecasting or picturing of the trial the televised jurors cannot help but feel the pressures of knowing that friends and neighbors have their eyes upon them. Estes v. State of Texas, 85 S.Ct. at 1634.

In finding that the probability of prejudice was sufficiently great to find the trial inherently lacking in due process without a showing of actual jury prejudice, the Court stated:

It is true that in most cases involving claims of due process deprivations we require a showing of identifiable prejudice to the accused. Nevertheless, at times a procedure employed by the State involves such a probability that prejudice will result that it is deemed inherently lacking in due process. Estes v. State of Texas, 85 S.Ct. at 1633.

In Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 350, 86 S.Ct. 1507 (1966), the Supreme Court indicated that the facts warranted either a continuance or change of venue without a showing of actual jury prejudice. The circumstances of Sheppard were as follows:

For months the virulent publicity about Sheppard and the murder had made the case notorious. Charges and counter-charges were aired in the news media besides those for which Sheppard was called to trial. In addition, only three months before trial, Sheppard was examined for more than five hours without counsel during a three-day inquest which ended in a public brawl. The inquest was televised live from a high school gymnasium seating hundreds of people. Sheppard v. Maxwell, 86 S.Ct. at 1518.

In the case at bar, defendant contends that the citizens of Guam have been prejudiced by exposure to publicity concerning the possible decline of Japanese tourism, the succession of defense attorneys that were appointed and excused, the article captioned “Paper Says Déla Rosa Admitted to Killings” (PDN, May 24, 1978); the article captioned “Suspect Possessed Watch, Jewelry, of Murder Victim” (PDN, May,5, 1978); the article stating that de[542]*542fendant may be responsible for the Texiera murders, (PDN, April 25, 1978); and the article concerning defendant’s past criminal record (PDN, April 28, 1978).

This pre-trial publicity does not approach the magnitude of the prejudicial publicity condemned in either Rideau or Estes and Sheppard. The articles, on the whole, are factual accounts. The Supreme Court in Murphy v. Florida, 421 U.S. 794, 95 S.Ct. 2031, 2036 (1975), refused to hold “that juror exposure to information about a state defendant’s prior convictions or to news accounts of the crime with which he is charged alone presumptively deprives the defendant of due process”. This Court finds that the publication of the articles did not constitute “inherently prejudicial publicity which has so saturated the community, as to have a probable impact upon the prospective jurors”. McWilliams v. United States, 394 F.2d 41, 44 (1968).

Finding the first test inapplicable to this case, the Court has applied the second test. Under this test, the Court examines the totality of the circumstances.

Whether there has been prejudicial publicity requiring action by the Court is to be determined by an evaluation of the totality of the surrounding facts in the matter. Wansley v. Slayton, 487 F.2d 90, 92 (1973).

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People v. Dela Rosa, 1 Guam 538 (superctguam 1978).

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Related

Irvin v. Dowd
366 U.S. 717 (Supreme Court, 1961)
Rideau v. Louisiana
373 U.S. 723 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Estes v. Texas
381 U.S. 532 (Supreme Court, 1965)
Sheppard v. Maxwell
384 U.S. 333 (Supreme Court, 1966)
Groppi v. Wisconsin
400 U.S. 505 (Supreme Court, 1971)
Murphy v. Florida
421 U.S. 794 (Supreme Court, 1975)
John McWilliams v. United States
394 F.2d 41 (Eighth Circuit, 1968)
Milton Margoles v. United States
407 F.2d 727 (Seventh Circuit, 1969)
Calley v. Hoffman
425 U.S. 911 (Supreme Court, 1976)