Rights in the Balance: Free Press, Fair Trial, and Nebraska Press Association V. Stuart »

"On a horrific night in October 1975, Erwin Simants brutally murdered the Henry Kellie family in tiny Sutherland, Nebraska. Massive media attention to the grisly story soon spawned a historic collision between two of the most cherished American constitutional protections - the First Amendment's guarantee of a free press and the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of a criminal defendant's right to a fair trial before an impartial jury." Rights in the Balance is the story of the complex legal battles set in motion that tragic night on the western Nebraska plains. In juxtaposition to the criminal prosecution of Erwin Simants, Mark Scherer traces the Nebraska Press Association's battle to overturn a gag order imposed on the media by state court judges. Prohibited from publishing certain details about the crimes and the Simants trial, the association set its own arduous legal course that would lead ultimately to the U.S. Supreme Court and the landmark ruling issued in Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart. The decision, one of the most closely followed in American constitutional history, remains one of the high court's most significant statements and controlling precedents on the troublesome and recurring conflict between the rights of free press and fair trial.

Illustrations

1 A Trying Task to Choose 7

2 The Crimes, the Victims, the Media 19

3 The Initial Legal Skirmishes 43

4 Entering the Appellate Labyrinth 67

5 The Paper War in the Supreme Court 91

6 May It Please the Court 115

7 Decision and Reaction 141

8 The Continuing Saga of the Simants 165

Criminal Prosecutions and the Legacy of Nebraska Press Association

Notes 189

Bibliography 223

Index 231