United States v. Simone

14 F.3d 833, 1994 WL 4205
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedJanuary 7, 1994
DocketNos. 93-1259 and 93-1260
StatusPublished
Cited by68 cases

This text of 14 F.3d 833 (United States v. Simone) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Simone, 14 F.3d 833, 1994 WL 4205 (3d Cir. 1994).

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

ROTH, Circuit Judge:

This case stems from the trial of Robert F. Simone, who on December 15, 1992, was convicted on five counts of racketeering and extortion. The trial attracted substantial media attention, and following its conclusion one of the jurors claimed that other members of the jury had watched television reports about the ease, read newspaper accounts of the trial, and discussed the case with their spouses, despite the court’s instruction that they refrain from doing so. These allegations also received substantial media attention. On January 19, 1993, Simone moved the district court to examine the jurors in camera to investigate this alleged misbehavior. The court granted this motion on March 19.

Later on March 19, appellant Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc., filed a motion requesting access to the examination of the jury. On March 21, appellants Central States Publishing, Inc., and Legal Communications, Ltd., also filed motions for intervention and access to the hearing. The district court denied these motions on March 22, the date of the hearing. Appellants (referred to herein as “the Newspapers”) requested that the proceeding be stayed to enable them to take an expedited appeal to this court. The district court denied the réquest and proceeded immediately to question the jurors. The Newspapers then filed a Notice of Appeal and an Emergency Motion for Stay and Petition for Writ of Mandamus with this court, as well as a Motion for Expedited Consideration and Summary Reversal. We issued the stay that afternoon. However, upon being notified of the stay, the district court concluded that it had no further need to question the jurors. On April 1,1993, it entered an order denying Simone’s motions for judgment of acquittal, new trial and arrest of judgment. The district court simultaneously released a transcript of the proceedings from which the jurors’ names had been removed.

We hold that the First Amendment right of access applies to proceedings of this nature: Because we conclude that the district court’s findings were inadequate to support closure of the questioning of the jurors and that the release of the transcript of closed proceedings cannot cure restrictions on the right of access absent adequate findings, we will reverse the decision closing the examination of the jury to the press and public.

I.

Simone was tried in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on RICO, Hobbs Act, and extortionate credit charges based on his attempts to extort money from two prominent Philadelphia-area businesspersons. The trial attracted the interest of the media primarily because Simone, a criminal defense attorney, had in the past represented clients alleged to have had connections to the Philadelphia mob. His defense consisted in large part of allegations that the government was prose[836]*836cuting him in retaliation for his successful representation of these individuals.

Following substantial post-trial publicity concerning claims of juror misbehavior, Simone made his motion for in camera examination of the jury. He alleged that the jurors failed to follow the court’s instructions not to read newspaper accounts or watch television news about the trial; that jurors falsely told the judge that they were adhering to his instructions; that the jurors improperly reviewed their trial notes together in violation of the court’s instructions; that some jurors had preconceived notions of Simone’s guilt; and that the jury felt coerced to reach a verdict. The court granted Simone’s motion for examination of the jury. Its order remains under seal.

On March 18, 1993, appellant Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc., learned that the court planned to conduct a closed hearing concerning the Simone case on March 22. On March 19, it filed its motion requesting access; its motion was followed two days later by similar motions made by appellants Central States Publishing, Inc., and Legal Communications, Ltd.

On the morning of its examination of the jurors, the district court opened the courtroom for a hearing on access. This hearing lasted thirteen minutes. At that time, the court advised counsel that it was going to question the jurors about whether they had been exposed to extraneous materials. It indicated that it had placed its order granting Simone’s motion under seal because of its belief that “exposure of the order to the press would subject jurors to coercive influences from the press.” The court further indicated that some jurors had reported that the press had contacted them concerning their proposed testimony.

The district court denied the Newspapers’ motions, concluding that the hearing should be closed because “the presence of the press in the proceedings will be coercive and will interfere with the expressions of candor of the jurors.” The district court noted that “[t]o the extent that there is an interest at this point in the proceedings, it is the Government’s interest and the defense interest. The public has no outcome interest.” The court went on to conclude that, to the extent there was a public interest, it was “far outweighed by the need of the Court and the interest of justice to conduct a hearing in the least coercive atmosphere[, which] requires exclusion of the press.” It did not elaborate on precisely why it felt that the presence of the press would be so coercive.

The court offered two additional justifications for its decision. First, it likened this situation to one in which it becomes necessary to voir dire the jury before the completion of trial Second, it was concerned that jurors might “inadvertently speak of’ the deliberative process, and reasoned that it was appropriate to close the hearing to protect against disclosure of the deliberative process to the public. The court did indicate that it would release a transcript of the hearings “at an appropriate time, probably within days after the conclusion of the proceedings.”

II.

The district court had jurisdiction over the criminal prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 3231. We have appellate jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 to review the final order of the district court denying appellants access to the post-trial proceedings. Though it would appear that this case is moot, we find that it falls squarely within that category of cases that are “capable of repetition, yet evading review.” See, e.g., Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court of Cal., 478 U.S. 1, 6, 106 S.Ct. 2735, 2739, 92 L.Ed.2d 1 (1986) [hereinafter Press-Enterprise II ]; United States v. Raffoul, 826 F.2d 218, 222 (3d Cir.1987). In Raffoul this court considered what procedural requirements are necessary to protect the First Amendment right of access when a closure motion is made during the course of a criminal trial. This court noted that “[e]ertainly the press and public will continue to seek access to criminal trials, and within the very short time that closure orders are generally in effect, it is not likely that appellate review would ever be available.” Raffoul, 826 F.2d at 222.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

FFB Bank v. Credit Mojo LLC
E.D. California, 2025
Anaya v. Vasquez
S.D. California, 2024
Israel v. U.S. Bank NA
D. Arizona, 2023
Duclos v. La
S.D. California, 2022
(PC) Hammler v. Dignity Health
E.D. California, 2021
(PC) Borbon v. Smiley
E.D. California, 2021
Busto v. City of San Diego
S.D. California, 2021
Matheis v. CDCR
S.D. California, 2021
Merry Reed v. Kevin Devlin
976 F.3d 302 (Third Circuit, 2020)
Ruiz v. Spearman
N.D. California, 2020
McBride v. Saul
E.D. Washington, 2020
REED v. BERNARD
E.D. Pennsylvania, 2020
United States v. Keonna Thomas
905 F.3d 276 (Third Circuit, 2018)
Oahu Publications Inc. v. Ahn.
331 P.3d 460 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 2014)
State Of Washington v. Thomas Miller
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2014
State v. Miller
316 P.3d 1143 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
14 F.3d 833, 1994 WL 4205, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-simone-ca3-1994.