Bee Pub. Co. v. State
| Citation | 107 Neb. 74,185 N.W. 339 |
| Decision Date | 17 November 1921 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 21314,21315.,s. 21314 |
| Parties | BEE PUB. CO. v. STATE. ROSEWATER v. STATE. |
| Court | Supreme Court of Nebraska |
BEE PUB. CO.
v.
STATE.
ROSEWATER
v.
STATE.
Nos. 21314, 21315.
Supreme Court of Nebraska.
Nov. 17, 1921.
The editor in chief of a metropolitan daily newspaper, owned by a defendant corporation, was joined with the corporation in a contempt proceeding, both being charged with having caused the publication of an article that tended to obstruct the due administration of justice in a suit then pending and undetermined in the district court. Both defendants were found guilty. It appearing that a fine of $1,000 was imposed upon the corporate owner of the newspaper, and that the editor had no knowledge of the objectionable article until after its publication, and the fact that this is his first offense, held, to be such mitigating circumstances as to justify a remittance of the fine imposed upon the editor.
The corporate owner of a metropolitan newspaper published an article respecting a criminal prosecution, then pending in the district court and undetermined, which took sides as between the state and the defendant. The article declared the innocence of the accused and indulged in violent comment respecting the evidence. Derogatory statements were made with respect to the credibility of the state's witnesses. The newspaper was published in the county seat and had an extensive circulation throughout the state and in the city and county of its domicile, the vicinity from which the jurors in the case should be drawn. Held, that in a proceeding for contempt the court did not err in imposing a fine upon the publishing company.
“Proceedings for contempt of court are, in this state, in their nature criminal, and governed by the strict rules applicable to prosecutions by indictment; hence presumption and intendments will not in such cases be indulged in order to sustain judgment of conviction.” Beckett v. State, 49 Neb. 210, 68 N. W. 473.
The freedom that is guaranteed by the Constitution to freely write and publish on all subjects, is qualified by the provision that imposes responsibility for the abuse of that freedom.
The right of the courts to impose punishment for contempt, arising from an abuse of the freedom of the press, as relating to causes pending in court and undetermined, is universally recognized.
The law will not suffer punishment to be imposed for a free expression of such criticism as a person or a publisher may entertain for the decisions of the courts.
Error to District Court, Douglas County; Redick, Judge.
The Bee Publishing Company and Victor Rosewater were found guilty of contempt of court and fined, and they bring error. Judgment of the district court imposing fine on Victor Rosewater vacated, but affirmed as to the fine imposed upon the Publishing Company.
Rosewater & Cotner and W. J. Connell, all of Omaha, for plaintiffs in error.
Clarence A. Davis, Atty. Gen., and A. V.
Shotwell and C. L. Dort, Asst. Attys. Gen., for the State.
Heard before MORRISSEY, C. J., and DEAN, FLANSBURG, and LETTON, JJ.
DEAN, J.
On November 9, 1919, the Bee Publishing Company, a corporation, Victor Rosewater, and John H. Moore, defendants, were jointly informed against by the county attorney for Douglas county, under section 8236, Rev. St. 1913, and charged with a willful attempt to obstruct the proceedings and hinder the due administration of justice in a suit, then lately pending and undetermined, by the publication of a certain article in the Omaha Sunday Bee, November 9, 1919. Moore was acquitted, but the Bee Publishing
[185 N.W. 340]
Company and Rosewater were both found guilty of contempt and were each separately fined $1,000 and costs. They have brought the case here for review.
The exhibits and the evidence tend to show that the facts out of which this suit arose, and which form the basis of the newspaper story in question, are substantially these:
On the afternoon and night of Sunday, September 28, 1919, the Douglas county courthouse in Omaha was beset by a riotously assembled mob made up of several thousand persons who came together for the unconcealed purpose of lynching an inmate of the jail, who was suspected of having made an attempt to commit a heinous offense against a defenseless woman. The mob overpowered the police force and other of the city officials, all of whom were assisted by many law-abiding citizens, but to no avail, in an endeavor to restore order. The object of the mob's fury was seized and lynched, the courthouse was fired and in large part destroyed, and with it most of its contents, before the mob dispersed. Within about a week after the fire, namely, November 6, 1919, John H. Moore, a Bee reporter, was indicted by a grand jury specially called by the district court to inquire into the facts leading up to and connected with the riot and the fire. The indictment charged Moore with conspiring with others to commit...
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