Green v. State
| Decision Date | 17 July 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 78-894,78-894 |
| Citation | 377 So.2d 193 |
| Parties | 5 Media L. Rep. 1430 Adelita Quejado GREEN, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Black & Denaro and Roy E. Black, Miami, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and James H. Greason, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Before PEARSON, BARKDULL and HUBBART, JJ.
This is a criminal prosecution for grand larceny against an attorney arising out of certain financial transactions which involve two of the attorney's former clients. The testimony is in conflict as to whether the attorney invested certain of the clients' monies according to the client's instructions or whether, on the contrary, the attorney misappropriated the funds in question. The jury believed the latter and convicted the defendant as charged. After a prison term was imposed, the defendant appeals.
The first issue involved in this appeal is whether there are any circumstances under which a trial court is constitutionally required to deny the electronic media 1 access to the courtroom to cover and report judicial proceedings in the courts of this state. We hold that upon a demonstration of prejudice to the defendant in a criminal case, which Inter alia includes a showing that such electronic media coverage of court proceedings in the cause would render an otherwise competent defendant incompetent to stand trial, the trial court is constitutionally required to prohibit electronic media coverage of such court proceedings under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 9 of the Florida Constitution. As the trial court herein summarily denied a defense motion to prohibit electronic media coverage of the trial based on the above ground without holding an evidentiary hearing to determine whether such motion was well-founded, we reverse and remand for a new trial.
On December 27, 1976, the defendant Adelita Quejado Green was charged in a three count information, one count of which was eventually nolle prossed, with grand larceny by embezzlement or misappropriation in the Circuit Court for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida. On February 7, 1977, based on the defendant's recent mental breakdown caused in part by the circumstances giving rise to this prosecution, the trial court pursuant to the state's motion appointed three psychiatrists to conduct an examination of the defendant as to her sanity and thereafter to file a written report with the court setting forth: (a) a general report on the defendant's mental condition, (b) an opinion as to the capacity of the defendant presently to properly answer the charges against her and aid in her own defense and stand trial, (c) an opinion as to whether at the time of the alleged offense the defendant knew right from wrong and the nature and consequences of her acts, and (d) an opinion as to whether the defendant should be given psychiatric treatment, and, if so, recommendations as to the type of such treatment.
The court-appointed psychiatrists subsequently conducted extensive mental examinations of the defendant on more than one occasion reviewed her past mental history and filed extensive written reports with the court. These reports all concluded that the defendant was mentally incompetent to stand trial, that she was suffering from a severe depression of psychotic proportions, and was extremely suicidal. 2 These reports indicated that the defendant had previously attempted suicide in September, 1976, that she was placed in a mental hospital at the Institute for Living in Hartford, Connecticut from November 3, 1976 to December 30, 1976, that she was subsequently placed in Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami Beach, January 3, 1977 February 4, 1977, under the psychiatric care of Dr. Arthur Stillman, and that she has since been receiving outpatient psychiatric care from Dr. Stillman three times weekly since her discharge from the hospital.
On March 21, 1977, the defendant through counsel filed a written waiver of speedy trial attaching thereto an affidavit of defense counsel detailing the prior and continuing severe mental history of the defendant and the virtual impossibility of communicating with the defendant concerning the case. Also attached is a mental status report of the defendant by her treating psychiatrist, Dr. Stillman, confirming in detail the psychotic state of the defendant. Accordingly, the trial of the cause was postponed while the defendant continued to receive out-patient psychiatric care.
On July 13, 1977, the trial court entered a second order appointing the same above three psychiatrists to re-examine the defendant and file written reports on the same questions as stated in the first such order. This time the psychiatrists all agreed that the defendant's mental condition had improved although she was still mentally disturbed, and that, at present, the defendant was mentally competent to stand trial. 3 These reports, like the prior psychiatric reports previously filed in this case, did not determine whether television coverage of the defendant's trial would adversely affect the defendant's competency to stand trial as such a determination was not called for in either of the orders appointing the psychiatrists in this cause.
The trial court held an evidentiary hearing to determine the defendant's competency to stand trial and reviewed the above psychiatric reports. On September 27, 1977, the trial court entered an order adjudging the defendant competent to stand trial but, so far as the record reveals, made no inquiry into what impact, if any, electronic media coverage would have on the defendant's competency to stand trial.
On October 6, 1977, the defendant filed a motion to prohibit the electronic media from televising or photographing any of the court proceedings in this cause on the ground that her fragile mental condition was such that any electronic media coverage of the court proceedings herein would have an adverse effect on her mental competency to stand trial, to properly assist counsel and to mount an effective defense. The defendant prayed that the motion be set for an evidentiary hearing to determine the truth of this claim. In addition to setting forth the history of the defendant's mental illness as detailed above, the defendant attached an affidavit by defense counsel stating that he had talked to one of the court-appointed psychiatrists in this cause and that this psychiatrist (Dr. Sanford Jacobson) had concluded:
Defense counsel's affidavit further states:
Also attached to the defendant's motion to prohibit electronic media coverage is a report by Dr. Stillman, the defendant's treating psychiatrist, which concludes that the presence of the electronic media at the trial of this cause would have an adverse impact on the defendant's competency to stand trial. 4 On October 18, 1977, the trial court heard argument on the above motion, but declined to take any testimony thereon. On November 16, 1977, the trial court entered a written order denying the motion.
On January 30, 1978 February 3, 1978, the defendant was brought to trial and the court proceedings thereon were fully covered by the electronic media, portions of which were shown daily on television news broadcasts. At the outset of the trial, the defendant renewed her pre-trial motion to prohibit electronic media coverage of court proceedings in this cause, which motion was summarily denied without conducting an evidentiary hearing. Throughout the trial, the defendant through counsel objected to the electronic media coverage of this trial stating that such coverage was adversely affecting the defendant's ability to confer with counsel during the trial. The trial court overruled all such objections without making any inquiry as to the truth of the defendant's claims.
The defendant was convicted of two counts of grand larceny and was sentenced to a term of years in the state penitentiary. This appeal follows.
The Florida Supreme Court in Petition of Post-Newsweek Stations, Florida, Inc., 347 So.2d 402 (Fla.1977), 347 So.2d 404 (Fla.1977), established a one year pilot project in this state whereby the electronic media, including still photography, could at their discretion televise and photograph judicial proceedings, civil, criminal and appellate, in all courts in the state of Florida subject to a detailed set of standards regulating the types of equipment, lighting, noise levels, audio pickup, etc., employed by the electronic media. The consent of any or all of the participants in the trials was not made a requirement for this pilot project which began at 12:01 a. m. on July 5, 1977 and ended at 11:59 p. m. on June 30, 1978. The trial in the instant case was held during this one year pilot project pursuant to the above standards.
Subsequent thereto, the Florida Supreme Court in In Re Petition of Post-Newsweek Stations, Florida, Inc., 370 So.2d 764 (Fla.1979), decided to...
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