Word: pretrial
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Within their courtrooms, judges are virtual autocrats. Many will not even talk to the press; thanks to last month's Supreme Court decision in Gannett vs. DePasquale, they are now closing off their courtrooms. Already, at least 39 judges have banned press or public or both from pretrial hearings or trials.* Lawyers, out of necessity, bow before the bench. "The job corrupts people," says Jack Frankel, executive officer of the California Commission on Judicial Performance. "The judge says, 'I'm going on vacation.' Everyone says, 'Fine, Judge.' The judge says, 'I'm coming in late.' Again, it's 'Fine, Judge...
...many lawyers use their skills to drag out cases. The object may be to wear down a less well financed opponent, or put off an unfavorable judgment. Sometimes it is simply a matter of greed, of contriving any excuse to keep fees rolling in. Favorite devices include making endless pretrial motions on one or another point of procedure, obtaining postponements (continuances) from the court, requesting huge amounts of information from the other side in the pretrial discovery process, or just burying the case in paper work...
...think the Supreme Court ruling that pretrial hearings may be held in secret [July 16] is not only horrendous, but frightening. Stripping the press of power is like tearing away a part of our country as well as our democracy...
...scandal-hungry press has no right to pretrial hearings so that they can feed the scandal-hungry public. Until a person is formally charged with a crime, his privacy must be protected...
...trend is clear and alarming, from the denial of confidentiality of sources to surprise newsroom searches (see LAW). Not only the press is affected. The search decision can send the cops into psychiatrists' or lawyers' offices as well. The latest court ruling that pretrial hearings and possibly trials themselves may be closed to press and public is reprehensible, among other reasons because it could lead to collusion-behind closed courtroom doors-between judges, prosecutors and defendants. This ruling more than any other shows that the conflict is not just between the courts and the press but the courts...