United States v. King

192 F.R.D. 527, 28 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2057, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6591, 2000 WL 576059
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedMay 8, 2000
DocketCrim. No. 3:00CR109
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 192 F.R.D. 527 (United States v. King) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. King, 192 F.R.D. 527, 28 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2057, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6591, 2000 WL 576059 (E.D. Va. 2000).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

PAYNE, District Judge.

The Indictment in this case charges the defendants with participating in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine base, possessing cocaine base, distributing cocaine base to two women in exchange for sexual favors, maintaining a crack house, and various firearms offenses. The defendant, Marshall King, has filed a Motion for Special Order Regarding Extrajudicial Statements in which he seeks an Order enjoining the Government’s witnesses from making statements to the press or others so as to protect his right to a fair trial by an impartial jury as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. The motion, which was filed on May 4, 2000, recited that one of the Government’s witnesses, an individual identified by name in several places in the Indictment, had been interviewed by a reporter for a local television station owned by Raycom Media, Inc. (“Raycom” or “Channel 6”) and that Channel [529]*5296 intended to interview the witness live as part of a program about this case.

Raycom moved to intervene to protect its rights under the First Amendment. An evidentiary hearing and oral argument on the motion was held on May 5, 2000. Between the time that the motion was filed and the time of the hearing, counsel for the defendant learned that the witness already had been interviewed at length by a reporter for the television station and that Channel 6 intended to air parts of that interview, rather than to interview the witness again during the forthcoming program. Therefore, at the commencement of the hearing, the defendant made an oral motion that the Court enjoin Raycom from publishing any part of the previously given interview.

Also, at the commencement of the hearing, the defendants, Bruno Crutchfield and Michael Wilkins, joined the oral and written motion made by the defendant, King. The defendant, Nelson Brown, joined only the oral motion to restrain publication of the interview and opposed the entry of an order restraining Government witnesses from making statements to other people.

The text of the written motion asserts that it is made “with the consent and the concurrence of the United States.” However, at the hearing, the United States reversed course and opposed the request for the restraint against publication of the interview on the television and the entry of an order enjoining witnesses from making extrajudicial statements about the case. Raycom took no position with respect to the request for an order enjoining witnesses from making extrajudicial statements but opposed any restraint on its publication of the interview.

For the reasons set forth below, the motion to restrain publication of the television interview is denied and the motion to enjoin Government witnesses from making extrajudicial statements is granted in part.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

This federal case has its genesis in an indictment returned on October 22, 1999 by a State grand jury. The State indictment involved 40 charges against the four defendants here and one other individual.1 The State charges included some of the same offenses charged in the federal indictment as well as various sex crimes such as aiding and abetting prostitution, criminal solicitation and crimes against nature. When the State indictments were made public, the Virginia State Police, which had coordinated the investigation leading to the State indictment, held a press conference announcing the fact of the indictment and newspaper and television coverage ensued. The defendants live and/or work in Mecklenburg County and Brunswick County or in the towns of Brodnax and South Hill and the events which gave rise to the charges in the Indictment are alleged to have occurred in that area. The record here discloses that there were at least ten newspaper articles following the return of the State indictment from the papers in those counties. (Defs.Exs.l, 3-9) Additionally, there were at least four television reports from Channel 6 and one other news channel. (Def s.Ex. 2)

The case attracted a burst of media attention largely because one of the defendants was a Virginia State Trooper, another was the Police Chief of Brodnax, Virginia in Brunswick County and another was a reasonably well-known businessman operating a funeral parlor in South Hill, Virginia. Further, the case also involved another person who allegedly was a well-known dealer in Mecklenburg County. Another obvious reason for the early publicity associated with the State indictment is that the allegations involved an alleged exchange of sex for drugs. The early print coverage gives considerable play to that aspect of the charges. And, that focus is replicated in the television coverage. Indeed, one of the features offered on October 28, 1999 by Channel 6, the intervenor here, bore the leading caption “High Bail For Sex Cops.” (Def s Ex. 2).

For reasons which do not appear in the record, the federal authorities undertook fur[530]*530ther investigation of the case and a federal grand jury returned the Indictment in this case on March 27, 2000. And that, in turn, generated another spate of newspaper and media coverage. For example, the Richmond Times Dispatch contained articles on March 30 and 31, 2000 reporting the fact of the federal indictment and the terms of pretrial release for the defendants. (Defs.Ex. 1) Another television report appeared, again on Channel 6, on Friday, April 7, 2000, reporting on the arraignment of the defendants and the setting of a trial date. (Defs.Ex. 2) There may have been other publicity in newspapers in other parts of the state but a cursory search on the internet by the Court and the efforts of the defendants have identified no further publicity.

The parties have stipulated that the viewing area of Channel 6 is roughly coterminous with the boundaries of the Richmond Division of the Eastern District of Virginia. The offenses are alleged to have occurred within the Richmond Division of the Eastern District of Virginia. And, therefore, the trial is scheduled to be conducted in the courthouse of the Richmond Division before a jury drawn from the vicinage that is this division.

The motions currently before the Court arose when, on May 3, 2000, a reporter for Channel 6 telephoned one of the defense counsel to advise that she had prepared a program that addressed the allegations in this case and she reported that one of the witnesses had given a comprehensive interview. At the hearing, the reporter testified that she asked the witness for an interview and that the witness ultimately agreed. The witness is confined in state facilities serving a sentence on an unrelated charge. The reporter promised the witness to maintain her name and identity in confidence and to publish the interview only by masking the witness’ appearance and voice. The reporter has abided by the promises-that she made respecting confidentiality. The identity of the witness was obtained by virtue of the efforts of defense counsel and the United States Attorney and those efforts confirmed that the witness is one of the women named in the Indictment as having exchanged drugs for sex.

The reporter, Jean Ziliano, testified that she has prepared a substantial piece to be presented on Channel 6 on May 8 and 9, 2000, and, that, as a part of the work for that program, she interviewed the Government’s witness for approximately 40 minutes.

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Related

United States v. King
194 F.R.D. 569 (E.D. Virginia, 2000)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
192 F.R.D. 527, 28 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2057, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6591, 2000 WL 576059, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-king-vaed-2000.