United States v. King - 140 F.3d 76 (2d Cir. 1998)

Rule:

Limitation on public and press access to criminal court proceedings requires that (1) the party seeking the limitation must advance an overriding interest that is likely to be prejudiced, (2) the limitation is no broader than necessary, (3) the trial court must consider reasonable alternatives, and (4) the court must make finding adequate to support the limitation. 

Facts:

This interlocutory appeal concerned a limited closure of proceedings in a criminal trial, primarily a denial of press access to transcripts of in camera individual voir dire of prospective jurors until a jury has been impaneled. Intervenors -- the companies publishing The Daily News, The New York Post, The New York Times, and Newsday, and a Daily News and a Post reporter -- appealed from orders entered on December 27, 1995, and February 5, 1998, by the District Court for the Southern District of New York, in connection with jury selection in the impending trial of boxing promoter Don King and his corporation on wire fraud charges, scheduled to begin March 12, 1998. The orders also limit press access to transcripts of voir dire proceedings from King's 1995 trial on the same charges, which ended in a mistrial.

Issue:

Was the district court's order denying press access to questing of prospective jurors in defendant's impending second trial proper?

Answer:

Yes

Conclusion:

The court affirmed, finding that the district court's order denying press access to questing of prospective jurors in defendant's impending second trial was supported by explicit findings, the limitations were selected only after considering various alternatives, and the limitations were imposed only for the brief duration of time necessary to impanel the jury. The court affirmed the limitation imposed on the voir dire transcripts from the first trial because intervenors' delayed challenge presented the same risk of inhibition of juror candor that would result from press reports of the responses of the prospective jurors at the retrial.