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

by Scherer, Mark R.

• ISBN13: 9780896726260
• ISBN10: 0896726266
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-07-31
• Publisher: Texas Tech Univ Pr

Summary

On a horrific night in October 1975, Erwin Simants brutally murdered six members of 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 prosecution, 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. Balancing the nuances of myriad legal considerations against the very human dimensions of both the constitutional litigations and the Simants prosecution, Scherer offers up a narrative accessible not only to communications and legal specialists and scholars but also the interested general public.

Author Biography

Mark R. Scherer is associate professor of history at the University of Nebraska.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	p. xiii
Foreword	p. xv
Preface	p. xix
Introduction	p. 3
A Trying Task to Choose	p. 7
The Crimes, the Victims, the Media	p. 19
The Initial Legal Skirmishes	p. 43
Entering the Appellate Labyrinth	p. 67
The Paper War in the Supreme Court	p. 91
May It Please the Court	p. 115
Decision and Reaction	p. 141
The Continuing Saga of the Simants Criminal Prosecutions and the Legacy of Nebraska Press Association	p. 165
Notes	p. 189
Bibliography	p. 223
Index	p. 231
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