Syllabus by the Court.
In view of the interpretation by the Supreme Court of the United States of the language found in Code § 24-105 the trial court erred in overruling the demurrers which attacked the citation of contempt as failing to set forth sufficient facts to authorize a finding that the newspaper was in contempt of court.
The following citation was issued by the Fulton Superior Court and served on the Atlanta Newspapers, Inc.: '1. The case of The State vs. James Pyles, Walter Dovie Turner, alias 'Buck', and Harold James Merriweather, Clerk's No. 77155
in which said defendants were charged in Count 1 with the crime of robbery from the person of Herman Mitchell, and charged in Count 2 with the crime of robbery from the person of C. T. Meyers, each of said charges being a capital offense, commenced against Harold James Merriweather alone and separately in said Court before a jury on June 2, 1959, and by consent of counsel for The State and counsel for Harold James Merriweather the jury were permitted to be dispersed to go to their homes at the conclusion of the business of the Court on June 2, 1959, with instructions to return to the jury room on the following morning of June 3, 1959, the Court recessing in the late afternoon of June 2, 1959, until 9:30 on the morning of June 3, 1959. 2. During said recess Atlanta Newspapers, Inc., published and distributed (1) the article, a copy of which is hereto attached and marked Exhibit 'A' and made a part hereof, in its newspaper known as The Atlanta Journal Final Home Edition, June 2, 1959, and in its newspaper known as The Atlanta Journal Five Star Pink Edition, June 2, 1959; (2) the article, a copy of which is marked Exhibit 'B' and attached hereto as a part hereof, in its newspaper known as The Atlanta Constitution for Wednesday June 3, 1959, and its newspaper known as The Atlanta Constitution Morning Street Edition, June 3, 195. 3. Said Atlanta Newspaper, Inc. thus published and distributed in Fulton County, Georgia in excess of fifty thousand copies of each of said articles. 4. During said recess some of the jurors trying said case saw both of said articles, and some of the jurors read said articles, and some jurors saw only one of the two articles. 5. Each publication of each of said articles by Atlanta Newspapers, Inc., is here charged as an offense. 6. Atlanta Newspapers, Inc., is directed to show cause before our Bar at 9:30 A.M. on June 5, 1959, why it should not be adjudged in contempt in respect of the matters stated and punished for thus interfering with the business of the Court. Witness our hand and official signature, this June 3, 1959. Durwood T. Pye, Judge Superior Court, Atlanta Judicial Circuit.' The exhibits attached to the citation were as follows: 'Exhibit 'A' Meriweather Faces Court; State Asking Death Count. By Gordon Roberts. Jim Meriweathe, formerly Georgia's number one wanted man and self-admitted holdup artist, went on trial Tuesday in Fulton Superior Court on robbery charges, with the state asking the extreme penalty, death in the electric chair. Meriweather, several-time loser who the state charges with a wave of Atlanta robberies early this year, is being tried on two counts of robbery in connection with the Feb. 12 armed holdup of Happy Herman's Delicatessen. The indictment charges Meriweather and two others with robbing at pistol point $2,000 from Herman Mitchell and $180 from C. T. Meyers, a customer in the store. Meriweather is charged in another indictment with shooting Mr. Meyers during the robbery. * * * In sworn testimony in the recent trial of one of his cohorts in the holdup, Meriweather admitted robbing Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Meyers, and also admitted shooting Mr. Meyers while he lay on the floor. Meriweather claimed the shooting was an accident. This testimony came in the trial of W. D. (Buck) Turner. Turner was convicted of the robbery and sentenced to eight to 40 years imprisonment. Meriweather has also admitted to holding up the Howell Park Pharmacy, and E Z store on Bankhead highway and Home Credit Co. on Gordon Street. He faces indictments in connection with these robberies. * * * He is also under indictment on a larceny of an automobile charge, and on two counts of assault with intent to murder in connection with the Happy Herman holdup. Attorney Richard Hester said Meriweather told him that since he was 19 years old he has spent only about two years outside prison. Meriweather is now 45. The desperado escaped in January from the Whitfield County Public Works Camp. He still faces 16 years imprisonment in connection with previous sentencing. Meriweather
was captured recently by Atlanta police at a Decatur hideout. Until his capture, he was listed as Georgia's most wanted man. Meriweather is being tried before Judge Durwood T. Pye. Assistant Sol. Frank French is prosecuting of the state.' 'Exhibit 'B' Meriwether Admitted Rob-Shooting, Jury Told. An Atlanta detective testified in Fulton Superior Court Tuesday that Harold James Meriwether, once one of Georgia's 10 most wanted criminals, freely admitted his part in the Feb. 12 robbery of a local delicatessen. The state is asking the death penalty for Meriwether, who robbed two persons and wounded one of them during the holdup. W. D. (Buck) Turner, one of two co-defendants in the case, already has been convicted for his part in the robbery. Witnesses said he drove a Pickup truck used as the getaway vehicle. Detective J. H. Barnes, one of the officers who arrested Meriwether at a Decatur apartment March 24, said Meriwether 'told all about the holdup.' He added that Meriwether 'went into his whole life's story.' Barnes said Meriwether agreed to 'tell you what I done, but I'm just not going to tell you about anybody else.' The detective quoted Meriwether as saying he took Herman Mitchell, owner of the delicatessen, and C. T. Meyers, a customer, into a back room. 'I was the one that shot the man,' Barnes quoted him as saying in regard to the wounding of Meyers. Other witnesses to the holdup said Meriwether shot Meyers in the back as he tried to get up off the floor after he had been ordered to lie down. When Meyers reached for a telephone, Mitchell testified, Meriwether ran into the room, shouting, 'I see you, you_____ * * * I ought to kill you now * * * I ought to kill you anyway.' Then he fired, the bullet striking Meyers in the back near the spine, passing through his lungs and chest. Other witnesses testified that James mpyles, the other co-defendant, made them lie down on the floor in another room and gave the same orders to other customers who entered the delicatessen while the holdup was in progress. They said Pyles waved a gun at them and told them to lie down. A store employee, Joe V. Marks, said he thought Pyles 'was kidding' when he came in and announced it was a holdup. When he questioned Pyles about it, Marks said he replied: 'Hell, no, I ain't kidding,' and stuck a pistol in his face.'
The defendant corporation filed demurrers to the citation which the court announced it was overruling and proceeded to the hearing of the cause. At the conclusion of the hearing, on the same date, the following judgment was rendered: 'In the matter of the contempts alleged against Atlanta Newspapers, Inc. in the Rule Dated June 3, 1959. Said Rule having been duly served upon Atlanta Newspapers, Inc. on June 3, 1959, and said corporation having demurred by demurrer filed June 5, 1959, and having answered by answer filed June 5, 1959, and said case coming on thereafter to be heard, and argument being had on said demurrer, and evidence and argument being thereafter had, the court makes the following order and judgment, to wit: 1. Said demurrer is overruled upon each ground. 2. To circulate material about the case on trial, which is calculated to come to the attention of jurors selected or prospective, is unlawful whether or not it actually comes to the attention of the jurors; and whether or not it relates to admissible or inadmissible matter. But here we have the circulation of inadmissible matter, both as to fact and as to opinion, which actually came to the attention of jurors trying the case, and also of prospective jurors examined on the selection of the second jury. The court finds the several offenses to have been committed as alleged, and also repeated by the material circulated in the last paragraph of the article of June 3, 1959, page 6, Exhibit E in the evidence, which material was circulated after the issuance of the rule here. The amount of the fine should take into consideration that the offenses were calculated, designed, deliberate, and repeated. It should be
proportioned so as deter. On the trial this corporation takes the position that all that which it here did was its absolute right and privilege to do. It has no such right, and it must be taught to the contrary. The duty of this Court is to administer such instruction. Wherefore, it is considered, ordered and adjudged by the Court that upon said finding of guilt of the several offenses alleged, and therefore, said corporation pay the State a fine of $20,000, to include all costs, and that execution issue therefor and be recorded by the Clerk upon the General Execution Docket. This 5 June 1959.'
The corporation's writ of error was first taken to the Supreme Court and by that court transferred here when it was determined that this court and not the Supreme Court had jurisdiction of the writ of error. See Atlanta Newspapers, Inc. v. State of Georgia, 215 Ga. 325, 110 S.E.2d 344.
