Application and Affidavit For a Search Warrant, Matter of

• Decision Date: 02 January 1991
• Docket Number: No. 90-5550,90-5550
• Citation: 923 F.2d 324
• Parties: 18 Media L. Rep. 1593 In the Matter of the APPLICATION AND AFFIDAVIT FOR A SEARCH WARRANT. The WASHINGTON POST COMPANY, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Caleb HUGHES, Defendant-Appellant, United States of America; Commonwealth of Virginia, Amici Curiae.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 324

923 F.2d 324

18 Media L. Rep. 1593

In the Matter of the APPLICATION AND AFFIDAVIT FOR A SEARCH WARRANT The WASHINGTON POST COMPANY, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Caleb HUGHES, Defendant-Appellant United States of America; Commonwealth of Virginia, Amici Curiae.

No. 90-5550.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued Dec. 4, 1990.

Decided Jan. 2, 1991.

Peter D. Greenspun, Klein & Greenspun, Fairfax, Va., for defendant-appellant.

Stephen Andrew Best, argued (Robert F. Horan, Commonwealth Attorney's Office, Fairfax, Va., on brief), for amicus curiae Com. of Virginia.

William G. Otis, Asst. U.S. Atty., argued (Henry E. Hudson, U.S. Atty., Alexandria, Va., on brief), for amicus curiae U.S.

Kevin Taylor Baine, argued (Dane H. Butswinkas, Williams & Connolly, Washington, D.C., on brief), for plaintiff-appellee.

Before ERVIN, Chief Judge, and WIDENER and WILKINSON, Circuit Judges.

WILKINSON, Circuit Judge:

This case involves the recurrent tension between the public's right of access to information regarding the workings of the criminal justice system and a defendant's Sixth Amendment guarantee of a fair trial. The specific conflict concerns an affidavit filed in support of a search warrant and whether the contents of that affidavit can be released without extinguishing the rights of the defendant at whom the warrant was directed. That defendant, Caleb Hughes, has been indicted on the charge of abduction with intent to defile. Hughes maintains that the information contained in the affidavit is so prejudicial that he will not be able to obtain a fair trial if it is unsealed. The federal district court in which the affidavit was filed ordered that it be unsealed in its entirety on the basis that properly conducted voir dire would ensure an unbiased jury verdict. Finding no abuse of discretion, we now affirm the district court's order.

I.

In December 1989, a five year old girl vanished from a community Christmas party she was attending with her mother in Fairfax County, Virginia. The Federal Bureau of Investigation became involved in the case and two weeks after the disappearance obtained a search warrant in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia for defendant Caleb Hughes' car. The request for the warrant was based on an FBI agent's sworn affidavit that summarized the gathered evidence. At that time the affidavit was sealed in order to protect the ongoing investigation and a federal magistrate denied a motion by the Washington Post to unseal the affidavit.

The young girl's disappearance sparked extensive media coverage in northern Virginia. Videotapes from the Christmas party were repeatedly shown on television and posters bearing the girl's photograph were disseminated throughout that area. Despite the publicity surrounding the disappearance and subsequent police investigation, the girl has never been found.

On November 19, 1990, almost a year after the girl vanished, a grand jury in Fairfax County indicted Hughes on the charge of abduction with the intent to defile, punishable by twenty years to life imprisonment. Following the indictment, the Post renewed its request that the federal court unseal the search warrant affidavit. Hughes opposed the motion on the grounds that release of any of the information in the document would prejudice him and compromise his Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial. Because the investigation had concluded, the United States agreed with the Post that most of the material in the affidavit could safely be released, but maintained that one paragraph should remain sealed because of its prejudicial potential. A federal magistrate held a hearing on the matter and denied the Post 's motion to unseal. ¹

The parties then immediately took their dispute to the federal district court. After hearing argument, that court ruled that the affidavit should be released in its entirety and that voir dire would ensure that Hughes would be tried before an impartial jury. The court nevertheless temporarily stayed its own order with regard to the one controversial paragraph in order to allow time for further appeal. A circuit judge extended the stay until a panel of this court could hear argument.

II.

We begin by detailing the deference that is owed in this area to the determinations of federal district courts. This circuit has held that a newspaper has a common law right of access to affidavits supporting search warrants, although not a First Amendment right of access. Baltimore Sun Co. v. Goetz, 886 F.2d 60 (4th Cir.1989). This "common law qualified right of access to the warrant papers is committed to the sound discretion of the judicial officer who issued the warrant." Id. at 65; see Nixon v. Warner Communications, Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 599, 98 S.Ct. 1306, 1312, 55 L.Ed.2d 570 (1978). We therefore review the district court's decision whether to grant access to or to seal the document under an abuse of discretion standard. ² Goetz, 886 F.2d at 65.

In this case, the district court balanced the public's right of access with the defendant's assertions that release would compromise his Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial. The mere fact that Hughes is asserting a constitutional right does not change the standard by which we review the district court's judgment. The decision in question is similar to any number of judgments a trial court makes that potentially affect a defendant's constitutional rights. For example, it is well established that we review charges that a trial court's curtailment of cross-examination denied defendant a fair trial under an abuse of discretion standard. See United States v. Crockett, 813 F.2d 1310, 1312-13 (4th Cir.1987); United States v. Bodden, 736 F.2d 142, 145 (4th Cir.1984).

The rationale for investing this particular balancing process at the trial court level is obvious. Each specific situation is different and discretion is best exercised "in light of the relevant facts and circumstances of the particular case." Warner Communications, 435 U.S. at 599, 98 S.Ct. at 1312-13. A trial court is in the best position to understand the intricate workings of criminal trial procedures, the varying methods of voir dire, jurors' responses to pretrial publicity, and whether a defendant can be granted a fair trial. Such fundamental aspects of trying a case are grist for the trial court's mill. Although appellate courts as well may have insights on these issues, deference is owed the practical experience and accumulated wisdom of a district court in this area. Trial judges are also best situated to understand the subtle factors unique to a given geographic area or population that may either attenuate or enhance the effect of any particular disclosure upon a defendant's rights.

The defendant and the Commonwealth of Virginia argue, however, that the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia is not the proper court to rule on release of the affidavit in this case. They assert that only the Fairfax County Circuit Court, the forum in which Hughes will actually be tried, can adequately assess the relevant factors. Despite their protestations, however, they offer no theory on which a transfer of the question could be predicated. It is beyond dispute that the federal district court had jurisdiction here. The affidavit was initially filed appropriately with that court and could be unsealed only by that court. In addition, the balancing act required of the district court undeniably involves a collision of rights with constitutional implications. There is little reason to suspect that the federal court would afford any less consideration than a state court to the defendant's asserted constitutional right or that it would refuse to afford full respect to whatever views the state chose to present. While the federal and state judicial districts are not of course identical, the federal court is hardly ignorant of the characteristics of the region from which the jurors will be drawn; the federal district here includes Fairfax and adjacent counties. That court has had extensive experience with jurors from that area and with the effects of significant pretrial publicity upon them.

This is not a situation calling for federal judicial abstention under the doctrine expressed in Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971). The usual case where Younger applies is where a defendant requests a federal injunction against pending state court criminal proceedings. See, e.g., Kugler v. Helfant, 421 U.S. 117, 123, 95 S.Ct. 1524, 1530, 44 L.Ed.2d 15 (1975). Here, no federal court has been asked to enjoin or to interfere directly in state judicial proceedings. Although the federal court's release of information properly consigned to it will have some effect on the state criminal process, the consequences will be no greater than those from any other publicity that is generated independently of a federal judicial decision. Nor is this a case where the Post 's claims could readily be adjudicated in pending state judicial proceedings. The Post moved for access to the affidavit, which was filed in federal court. The Post is not a party to the criminal prosecution, nor could the state court order the affidavit released. Federal district court was the Post 's appropriate forum for relief.

III.

The defendant next contends that the district court abused its discretion in concluding that the search warrant affidavit should be released in its entirety. Hughes also asserts that his interest in a fair trial is paramount to the public's common law right of access and that sealing the paragraph in controversy is both "essential to preserve higher values" and "narrowly tailored to serve that interest" as we require if access is to be denied. Goetz, 886 F.2d at 65-66 (quoting Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court, 464 U.S. 501, 510, 104 S.Ct. 819, 824, 78 L.Ed.2d 629 (1984) [hereinafter Press-Enterprise I ].

We do not...