Vol. 6, No. 3, Pg. 14. Closed Doors And Closed Drawers: Public Access To Courtrooms and Court Records.

• Author: By Jay Bender

South Carolina Lawyer

1994.

Vol. 6, No. 3, Pg. 14.

Closed Doors And Closed Drawers: Public Access To Courtrooms and Court Records

14Closed Doors And Closed Drawers: Public Access To Courtrooms and Court RecordsBy Jay BenderA man and a woman die in a bloody and brutal murder. The prime suspect in the case is identified publicly prior to his arrest. Photographs of the crime scene, the victims and the suspect are published along with details of an escape attempt.

In spite of some superficial parallels, this is not a tale from the O.J. Simpson case. It is much closer to home and involved 15-year old Chris Franklin, who was charged in Beaufort County with the shotgun murder of his father and stepmother.

After his arrest Franklin's first appearance in court was behind closed doors. The local newspapers learned of the hearing as a second closed hearing commenced. A reporter delivered a letter to the presiding judge asking to be admitted to the second hearing. The reporter also asked for a transcript of the first hearing.

The requests were denied without a hearing. A motion was filed seeking access to the court proceedings and the transcript of previous proceedings in the case. The judge ruled that the hearing on the motion to open the court was itself to be closed to the public. In that hearing the judge ruled that the newspapers seeking access had the burden of proving why they should be allowed to attend the hearing or receive a copy of the transcript. Ultimately, the judge ruled that what he had heard during the two days of closed hearings justified keeping the door to the courtroom closed and the transcript sealed.

Was the judge correct in any of the rulings made?

The first proceeding was a detention hearing for the juvenile, and the second was to consider the transfer of the case to General Sessions Court. On appeal the Supreme Court of South Carolina reversed the trial judge on the issues of access to the hearing and the transcript, as well as on the allocation of the burden of proof. Ex Parte The Island Packet, 308 S.C. 198, 417 S.E.2d 575 (1992).

The Supreme Court held that under both the federal and state constitutions the public has a right of access to court proceedings, even those involving juveniles. The right of access is not absolute, but the court stated clearly that closing a courtroom to exclude the public and press is a drastic remedy to be invoked only rarely.

Open Trials Guarantee Fairness

The Supreme Court of the United States articulated the rationale for public access to courts by stating:

The open trial . . . plays as important a role in the administration of justice today as it did for centuries before our separation from England. The value of openness lies in the fact that people not actually attending trials can have confidence that standards of fairness are being observed; the sure knowledge that anyone is free to attend gives assurance that established procedures are being followed and that deprivations will become known. Press-Enterprise Co v. Superior Court of Cal., 464 U.S. 501 at 508, 104 S.Ct. 819 at 823, 78 L.Ed.2d 629 (1984).

The value of openness lies in the fact that people not actually attending trials can have...