Multimedia WMAZ, Inc. v. State
| Decision Date | 24 February 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 44176,WMAZ-TV,44176 |
| Citation | 353 S.E.2d 173,256 Ga. 698 |
| Parties | , 13 Media L. Rep. 2069 MULTIMEDIA WMAZ, INC. d/b/av. The STATE et al. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Hubert C. Lovein, Jr., Jones, Cork & Miller, Macon, for Multimedia WMAZ, inc.
Rick Cook, Cook & Shaffer, J. Robert Faulkner, Macon, G. Theron Finlayson, Dist. Atty., Perry, for the State et al.
After the trial judge had granted a motion for a change of venue from Houston County in the murder trial of Jacob Valdez Reyes, Multimedia WMAZ, Inc. d/b/a WMAZ-TV ("Multimedia") filed a request to televise the trial, which had been moved to Glynn County. After a hearing, the trial judge denied the request. After a second hearing, at which the defendant was present, the trial judge entered a supplemental order reaffirming the original order and noting that the defendant had objected to television coverage at the trial. Following this court's denial of its application for an interlocutory appeal, Multimedia directly appeals from the orders denying its request.
1. The direct appeal to this court is an appropriate means for the protection of the rights of the news media during judicial hearings in criminal cases, and the appeal was not rendered moot by the completion of the trial, because the underlying dispute is "capable of repetition, yet evading review." R.W. Page Corp. v. Lumpkin, 249 Ga. 576, 578(1, 2), 292 S.E.2d 815 (1982) and cits.
2. Uniform Superior Court Rule 22 (253 Ga. 833) provides in part as follows: (Emphasis supplied.)
Thus--consistently with the "open courthouse door" policy approved in Lumpkin, 249 Ga. 576, supra, fn. 1, 292 S.E.2d 815--Rule 22 permits electronic-media coverage of trials in the superior courts unless the assigned judge, after "appropriate hearing" with notice, makes specific findings that such coverage is either not "within the requirements of due process of law" or cannot be "done without detracting from the dignity and decorum of the court."
In the case at bar, there was no objection by either the state or by defense counsel to the request for electronic-media trial coverage, and both the trial judge and Multimedia's news director stated that they had inspected the Glynn County courtroom and had concluded that the request was reasonable. The trial judge also stated that he would have granted the request had the trial remained in Houston County. Notwithstanding the above, the trial judge denied the request based on the local policy (not approved by this court as a "local rule" pursuant to Uniform Superior Court Rule 1.2; 253 Ga. 809) of Glynn County...
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