| Chandler v. Florida
(No. 79-1260)
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| Syllabus
| Opinion
[ Burger ] | Concurrence
[ Stewart ] | Concurrence
[ White ] |
| HTML version
PDF version | HTML version
PDF version | HTML version
PDF version | HTML version
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Chandler v. Florida
APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA
JUSTICE WHITE, concurring in the judgment.
The Florida rule, which permits the televising of criminal trials under controlled conditions, is challenged here on its face and as applied. Appellants contend that the rule is facially invalid because the televising of any criminal trial over the objection of the defendant inherently results in a constitutionally unfair trial; they contend that the rule is unconstitutional as applied to them because their case attracted substantial publicity and, therefore, falls within the rule established in Estes v. Texas, 381 U.S. 532 (1965). [*] The Florida court rejected both of these claims. [p587]
For the reasons stated by JUSTICE STEWART in his concurrence today, I think Estes is fairly read as establishing a per se constitutional rule against televising any criminal trial if the defendant objects. So understood, Estes must be overruled to affirm the judgment below.
It is arguable, however, that Estes should be read more narrowly, in light of Justice Harlan's concurring opinion, as forbidding the televising of only widely publicized and sensational criminal trials. Justice Harlan, the fifth vote in Estes, characterized Estes as such a case and concurred in the opinion of the Court only to the extent that it applied to a "criminal trial of great notoriety." Id. at 587. He recognized that there had been no showing of specific prejudice to the defense, id. at 591, but argued that no such showing was required "in cases like this one."
Whether the decision in Estes is read broadly or narrowly, I agree with JUSTICE STEWART that it should be overruled. I was in dissent in that case, and I remain unwilling to assume or conclude, without more proof than has been marshaled to date, that televising criminal trials is inherently prejudicial even when carried out under properly controlled conditions. A defendant should, of course, have ample opportunity to convince a judge that televising his trial would be unfair to him, and the judge should have the authority to exclude cameras from all or part of the criminal trial. But absent some showing of prejudice to the defense, I remain convinced that a conviction obtained in a state court should not be overturned simply because a trial judge refused to exclude television cameras and all or part of the trial was [p588] televised to the public. The experience of those States which have, since Estes, permitted televised trials supports this position, and I believe that the accumulated experience of those States has further undermined the assumptions on which the majority rested its judgment in Estes.
Although the Court's opinion today contends that it is consistent with Estes, I believe that it effectively eviscerates Estes. The Florida rule has no exception for the sensational or widely publicized case. Absent a showing of specific prejudice, any kind of case may be televised, as long as the rule is otherwise complied with. In re Petition of Post-Newsweek Stations, Florida, Inc., 370 So.2d 764, 774 (Fla.1979). Thus, even if the present case is precisely the kind of case referred to in Justice Harlan's concurrence in Estes, the Florida rule overrides the defendant's objections. The majority opinion does not find it necessary to deal with appellants' contention that, because their case attracted substantial publicity, specific prejudice need not be shown. By affirming the judgment below, which sustained the rule, the majority indicates that not even the narrower reading of Estes will any longer be authoritative.
Moreover, the Court now reads Estes as merely announcing that, on the facts of that case, there had been an unfair trial -- i.e., it established no per se rule at all. Justice Clark's plurality opinion, however, expressly recognized that no "isolatable" or "actual" prejudice had been or need be shown, 381 U.S. at 542-543, and Justice Harlan expressly rejected the necessity of showing "specific" prejudice in cases "like this one." Id. at 593. It is thus with telling effect that the Court now rules that, "[a]bsent a showing of prejudice of constitutional dimensions to these defendants," there is no reason to overturn the Florida rule, to reverse the judgment of the Florida Supreme Court, or to set aside the conviction of the appellants. Ante at 582.
By reducing Estes to an admonition to proceed with some caution, the majority does not underestimate or minimize the [p589] risks of televising criminal trials over a defendant's objections. I agree that those risks are real, and should not be permitted to develop into the reality of an unfair trial. Nor does the decision today, as I understand it, suggest that any State is any less free than it was to avoid this hazard by not permitting a trial to be televised over the objection of the defendant or by forbidding cameras in its courtrooms in any criminal case. Accordingly, I concur in the judgment.
* In their motion in the Florida Circuit Court to declare Florida's rule unconstitutional, appellants claimed that their case had "received a substantial amount of publicity" and then argued that,
[a]s . . . in Estes v. Texas, 381 U.S. 532 (1965), the presence of television cameras . . . will substantially harm and impair the Defendant's right to a fair and impartial trial. . . .
App. 4. In their brief on the merits, appellants described their case as "not ‘notorious,' [but] at least ‘more than routine,'" and asked the Court to extend the Estes rule to it. Brief for Appellants 10.