Uniform Rules of the Magistrate Court Athens Clarke County

Motion to Prohibit Electronic and Photographic Coverage

IN THE COURT OF COUNTY,

MOTION TO PROHIBIT ELECTRONIC AND PHOTOGRAPHIC COVERAGE

, by counsel, hereby moves this Court, pursuant to Article , Sections , of the Constitution and the Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, for an order prohibiting the use of video or other cameras to photograph the court proceedings herein. In support of this motion, states as follows:

1. is before this Court charged with murder arising out of a highly publicized homicide in this community. The District Attorney has announced his intention to seek the death penalty.

2. There has been massive, highly prejudicial publicity throughout this area regarding this case.

3. Members of the media have sought authorization for electronic and photographic coverage of these proceedings. Such coverage will deny the accused a fair trial, an impartial jury, and a fair, reasoned and impartial determination of his sentence.

4. Electronic and photographic coverage implicates a number of fundamental constitutional rights of the accused. On the other hand, the media has no constitutional right to photograph and record the proceedings herein.

5. In Estes, the Supreme Court held that television coverage of a criminal trial could, in certain circumstances, violate the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

6. is entitled to notice of the request by news organizations for permission for electronic and photographic coverage and to an opportunity to be heard before such coverage is authorized.

7. To allow ex parte orders which have the potential of denying a fair trial by an impartial jury in a death case is completely at odds with the fundamental requirements of procedural due process and the extraordinary measures required by the Eighth Amendment in a death penalty case.

8. Thus, the United States Supreme Court has held that a state cannot deprive a person of his driver's license and registration without first providing a hearing to determine whether there is a reasonable probability of a judgement being rendered against him due to an accident. Nor can a person's wages be frozen without the opportunity for a hearing.

It cannot be said that a person has a right to a hearing before his driver's license is revoked, while another has no right to a hearing before the Court authorizes electronic and photographic coverage in a capital trial, severely jeopardizing any hope he may have of a fair trial. Accordingly, this Court must conduct a hearing on whether to allow photographic and electronic coverage before any such coverage is permitted.

WHEREFORE, upon a full evidentiary hearing of this motion,