State ex rel. Missoulian v. Montana Twenty-First Judicial Dist. Court, Ravalli County

• Decision Date: 06 March 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96-509,TWENTY-FIRST,96-509
• Citation: 281 Mont. 285,933 P.2d 829
• Parties: , 25 Media L. Rep. 1577 STATE of Montana, ex rel., the MISSOULIAN, Relators, v. MONTANAJUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT, RAVALLI COUNTY, and the Honorable Jeffrey H. Langton, Presiding District Judge, Respondents.
• Court: Montana Supreme Court

Page 829

933 P.2d 829

281 Mont. 285, 25 Media L. Rep. 1577

STATE of Montana, ex rel., the MISSOULIAN, Relators, v. MONTANA TWENTY-FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT, RAVALLI COUNTY, and the Honorable Jeffrey H. Langton Presiding District Judge, Respondents.

No. 96-509.

Supreme Court of Montana.

Submitted Dec. 5, 1996.

Decided March 6, 1997.

Steven S. Carey (argued), Carey, Meismer & McKeon, Missoula, for Relator.

David E. Stenerson (argued), Kirk Krutilla, Attorneys at Law, Hamilton, Joe Mazurek, Attorney General, Elizabeth L. Griffing, Ass't Attorney General, Helena, for Respondents.

LEAPHART, Justice.

Kippy Joe Hill was charged with deliberate homicide for the death of Laurel Elaine Camper which occurred on June 29, 1996. In Justice Court, Hill filed a motion for an order prohibiting dissemination of evidentiary material to the news media. On the same day that the motion was filed, the Justice Court entered an order barring the Ravalli County Sheriff's office, the Ravalli County Attorney's office and anyone else involved in the investigation, prosecution or defense of the matter, from providing any factual or evidentiary information concerning the case to the public or the press.

After entry of the above order by the Justice Court, the State filed an Information against Hill in the Twenty-First Judicial District Court. Hill then requested that the District Court adopt the Justice Court order prohibiting dissemination of any evidentiary information to the press or public. The State opposed the motion and moved to quash the Justice Court order. A brief hearing was conducted on August 14, 1996, wherein the court proposed issuing a restrictive order tailored more narrowly than the Justice Court order. The State agreed with the court's proposal. The District Court then entered an order requiring that certain restrictions on pretrial and trial publicity be followed in conformity with Rule 3.6 of the Rules of Professional Conduct. The court's order (hereinafter referred to as "participant gag order") applied the Rule, not just to attorneys, but to the defendant, defense witnesses, prosecution witnesses, court staff and all law enforcement officers. Three days later, the District Court followed up its order with a Memorandum reiterating its restrictions and also directing that no evidentiary material was to be filed with the court unless it were under seal.

The Missoulian, a local newspaper, filed an Application for Writ of Supervisory Control asking this Court to assume original jurisdiction of this matter to correct the District Court's mistakes of law in issuing the restrictive order and in requiring that any filings referencing evidence in the case be submitted under seal. In an order dated October 17, 1996, we ordered briefing in the matter and on November 21, 1996 entertained oral argument. We reverse the restrictive order and remand for further proceedings.

Factual Background

Neither the Justice Court nor the District Court took any evidence or made any factual findings with regard to their respective restrictive orders. Thus, the record before this Court consists solely of the pleadings and the District Court's "Restrictive Order" of August 16, 1996 and subsequent "Memorandum and Order" dated August 19, 1996.

Appropriateness of Writ of Supervisory Control

Article VII, Section 2 of the Montana Constitution gives this Court "original jurisdiction, to issue, hear, and determine writs...." Supervisory control is appropriate where the district court is proceeding under a mistake of law, and in so doing is causing a gross injustice. State ex rel. Forsyth v. District Court (1985), 216 Mont. 480, 484, 701 P.2d 1346, 1348 (overruled on other grounds); State ex rel. Fitzgerald v. District Court (1985), 217 Mont. 106, 114, 703 P.2d 148, 153-54.

Recently, in State ex rel. Mazurek v. District Court (Mont.1996), 922 P.2d 474, 476-77, 53 St.Rep. 678, 679, we stated:

"Supervisory control is an extraordinary remedy, to be exercised only in extraordinary circumstances. We have said ... that to justify such a writ an exigency or emergency must be shown to exist, or that a gross injustice would result from a denial of the writ, and the absence of other adequate relief.... [Supervisory control] has its own appropriate functions, and, without undertaking to define particularly what these functions are, we think one of them is to enable this court to control the course of litigation in the [district] courts where those courts are proceeding within their jurisdiction, but by mistake of law, or willful disregard of it, are doing a gross injustice, and there is no appeal or the remedy by appeal is inadequate...." State ex rel. Forsyth v. District Court (1985), 216 Mont. 480, 484, 701 P.2d 1346, 1348 (quoting State ex rel. O'Sullivan v. District Court (1946), 119 Mont. 429, 431-32, 175 P.2d 763, 764); accord State ex rel. Mapes v. District Court (1991), 250 Mont. 524, 528-29, 822 P.2d 91, 94.

It is significant to note that we have issued writs of supervisory control in other cases involving media challenges to court-imposed restrictions on access to information about the criminal trial process. Great Falls Tribune v. District Court (1980), 186 Mont. 433, 608 P.2d 116 and State ex rel. Smith v. District Court (1982), 201 Mont. 376, 654 P.2d 982. We determine that the Missoulian's petition presents legal issues which are appropriate for us to resolve through a writ of supervisory control.

Questions Presented

Although the Missoulian submits the same arguments for the reversal of the court's participant gag order and of the court's sealing of evidentiary documents, the requirement that filings be under seal presents an issue separate and distinct from the issue presented by the participant gag order. We determine that the District Court order presents the following two distinct questions for our consideration:

I Did the court's order violate Article II, Section 9 of the Montana Constitution and § 46-11-701, MCA, when it directed that no evidentiary material could be filed with the court unless it were under seal?

II Did the court's order violate the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, Article II, Section 9 of the Montana Constitution and § 46-11-701, MCA, when it directed that the defense counsel and staff, defendant, county attorney and staff, court staff, and all law enforcement officers be bound by the Rules of Professional Responsibility regarding restrictions on pretrial publicity and trial publicity?

Discussion

I Did the court's order violate Article II, Section 9 of the Montana Constitution and § 46-11-701, MCA, when it directed that no evidentiary material could be filed with the court unless it were under seal?

In its Memorandum and Order of August 19, 1996, the District Court ordered that:

no further evidentiary material be filed with the Court unless it is under seal. Motions or briefs shall not refer to evidentiary matters not already of public record as of this date in the Court file except in general terms.

The Missoulian alleges that the District Court erred in not complying with the requirements of § 46-11-701(3), MCA, before ordering that all future documents referring to evidentiary matters be filed under seal. Section 46-11-701(3), MCA, provides:

The judge may close a preliminary hearing, bail hearing, or any other pretrial proceeding, including a hearing on a motion to suppress, and may seal the record only if:

(a) the dissemination of information from the pretrial proceeding and its record would create a clear and present danger to the fairness of the trial; and

(b) the prejudicial effect of the information on trial fairness cannot be avoided by any reasonable alternative means.

Although not articulated in its brief, the Missoulian presumes that the "any other pretrial proceeding" language in subsection (3) includes the filing of court documents. Although "any other pretrial proceeding" could be construed as limited to proceedings in court it could also be construed to include filings of documents pertinent to the pretrial process as a whole. We hold that "pretrial proceeding" as used throughout § 46-11-701, MCA, is ambiguous, and we must therefore look beyond the plain words of the statute to determine its meaning. When legislative intent cannot be determined from the plain words of a statute the court must examine the legislative history of the statute. Christenot v. State, Dept. of Commerce (1995), 272 Mont. 396, 401, 901 P.2d 545, 548 (citing Lewis & Clark County v. State, Dept. Of Commerce (1986), 224 Mont. 223, 226, 728 P.2d 1348, 1350).

Section 46-11-701, MCA, was enacted in 1991 in response to our decision in State ex rel. Smith v. District Court (1982), 201 Mont. 376, 654 P.2d 982, in which we addressed a request to exclude the press from a pretrial suppression hearing. Defendant Smith asked this Court to close the evidentiary hearing to the public and the press on the grounds that his fair trial rights would be substantially affected by dissemination of evidence that might be suppressed. Smith, 654 P.2d at 984. We held that, under the Right to Know provision of Article II, Section 9 of the Montana Constitution and the right of access recognized under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the public and press can be excluded from a pretrial suppression hearing "only if dissemination of information acquired at the hearing would create a clear and present danger to the fairness of defendant's trial and no reasonable alternative means can be utilized to avoid the prejudicial effect of such information." Smith, 654 P.2d at 987. In arriving at that conclusion, we adopted, in toto, Standard 8-3.2 of the American Bar Association Standards for Criminal Justice (2nd ed. 1978) as the appropriate test to reconcile the competing interests of public access and trial fairness. That Standard was later codified as § 46-11-701, MCA.

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