Florida Freedom Newspapers v. McCrary
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Florida Freedom Newspapers v. McCrary was a case before Florida Supreme Court in 1988 concerning the release of pretrial information.
Important precedents
The release of pretrial discovery evidence to the public must be weighed against the defendants right to a free and fair trial. If the discovery material is overly incriminating so as to create a biased jury, the documents can be exempted by the courts from public records requests.
Background
- A local newspaper reported mistreatment of Jackson County prisoners in the local jail. The news story caught the public's interest and other media organizations began running their own investigations into the matter.
- Eventually, two prison guards were charged with criminal mistreatment of prisoners. The two guards attempted to reduce pretrial publicity by seeking an injunction which would prevent the release of pretrial evidence found during discovery and prohibit the government and potential witnesses from issuing press releases or making statements to the media concerning the trial.
- After an in camera review of the documents in question, the court exempted them from records request and narrowed the limitation on contact with the press to only the state attorney's office and the sheriff's department. The court felt that the documents in question were graphic in nature, and overly incriminating. The ruling attempted to conceal these documents in order to preserve a fair and impartial jury until trial.
- Florida Freedom Newspapers and other news organizations petitioned for the documents in appeals court arguing that the Florida Sunshine Law only exempts pretrial material up until it is given to the defendant. The press argues that the courts have created a new exemption to the open records laws of the state.[1]
Ruling of the court
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of McCrary, affirming the judgment of the trial court.
The court determined that, pursuant to the U.S. Constitution, the sheriffs had the right to seek the order, in order to obtain a fair and unbiased trial and jury. Secondly, the court determined that it was not creating a new exception. The court felt that the legislature had intended for the possibility of the court sealing documents when it stated in statute 119.07(4), which states:
"Nothing in this section shall be construed to exempt from subsection (1) a public record which was made a part of a court file and which is not specifically closed by order of court except as provided in paragraphs (e), (f), (g), (m), (o), and (r) of subsection (3). (Emphasis supplied.)"[1]
The also argue that the separation of powers within government and the judiciaries responsibility of providing a fair trial permit the judiciary to on occasion, step around the laws of legislature in order to insure constitutional rights and freedoms. In addition, the court argues that the precedent for the right of fair trial limiting the release of information has already been set in Florida by Palm Beach Newspapers Inc. v. Burk and Bundy v. State of Florida. Finally, the court determines that the records do in fact meet the three pronged test for limiting the release of publicly accessible information, found in Miami Herald Publishing Company v. Lewis. Based on these fact, the Supreme Court determined that the trial court did not err in making the documents exempt and upheld the ruling to protect the pretrial discovery material.[1]
Associated cases
- Accord Palm Beach Newspapers Inc. v. Burk
- Bundy v. State of Florida
- Miami Herald Publishing Company v. Lewis
