NPA v. Stuart

College of Journalism and Mass Communications Author

10/04/2021 Added

50 Plays

Description

An companion animated overview of the Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart case and legal context. Learn more: go.unl.edu/npavstuart Created by Jacht.

Searchable Transcript

Search:

[00:00:00.000](reflective music) (static crackling)
[00:00:03.620]On October 18th, 1975,
[00:00:06.930]many of Sutherland, Nebraska's 850 residents
[00:00:10.460]were watching TV or sleeping
[00:00:12.408](gunshots blasting) when the sound of gunfire
[00:00:13.690]echoed through their town.
[00:00:15.590]Rumors circulated of a shotgun sniper
[00:00:17.930]in the area.
[00:00:19.030]This landed on the front page of every local newspaper.
[00:00:22.750]Five members of the Sutherland family
[00:00:24.940]were found dead in their home.
[00:00:27.030]A sixth member of the Kellie family died after arriving
[00:00:30.050]at the North Platte hospital.
[00:00:31.980]Erwin Charles Simants, 29, lived next door
[00:00:35.560]to the Kellie family and was charged
[00:00:37.760]with six counts of first degree murder.
[00:00:40.450]Henry Kellie, his wife, Audrey,
[00:00:42.710]their grandchildren, Florence, Deanna, Daniel,
[00:00:46.020]and their father, David,
[00:00:47.530]were all buried in the Sutherland Cemetery
[00:00:49.910]on October 22nd, 1975.
[00:00:53.720]Local residents were in shock.
[00:00:56.530]The case first
[00:00:57.363]went through a preliminary hearing in a county court.
[00:01:00.170]The prosecutor worried about getting an impartial jury
[00:01:03.010]for Simants due to the violent nature of the murders.
[00:01:06.430]He asked the county court judge, Ronald Ruff,
[00:01:09.000]to put in place a gag order.
[00:01:11.070]A gag order is when a judge orders a case
[00:01:13.680]not to be discussed in public by the media.
[00:01:16.400]The hearing was open to the public,
[00:01:18.470]however, Judge Ruff issued a gag order
[00:01:21.470]prohibiting the spread of any information
[00:01:24.160]from the hearing through the media.
[00:01:26.170]This was the most extensive condition for the gag order
[00:01:29.600]of the press put in place throughout the case.
[00:01:32.103]When the case went on
[00:01:33.370]to the Lincoln County District Court judge, Hugh Stuart,
[00:01:36.940]the Nebraska Press Association petitioned him
[00:01:39.470]to remove the gag order.
[00:01:40.970]Judge Hugh Stuart had to decide
[00:01:42.970]to keep the gag order, modify it,
[00:01:45.410]or get rid of it entirely
[00:01:47.090]in order to maintain an impartial jury.
[00:01:49.570]Judge Stuart decided to uphold the gag order
[00:01:52.220]until a jury was selected.
[00:01:54.457]"I modified the county judge's order
[00:01:56.670]because I thought it was too broad," Stuart said.
[00:01:59.377]"I was trying to achieve a balance
[00:02:01.130]between the First Amendment right to a free press
[00:02:03.607]and the Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury."
[00:02:06.610]Yet the Nebraska Press Association
[00:02:09.170]thought the gag order restricted the freedom of the press.
[00:02:12.850]Local residents were concerned
[00:02:14.490]about how people would learn about the case.
[00:02:16.870]The Nebraska Press Association
[00:02:19.310]appealed Stuart's decision to restrain media publication
[00:02:23.390]all the way up to the United States Supreme Court.
[00:02:26.670]The United States Supreme Court
[00:02:28.470]reversed the state court's ruling,
[00:02:30.480]lifting the gag order in its entirety.
[00:02:32.810]Chief Justice Warren E. Burger wrote on behalf of the court:
[00:02:36.827]"Prior restraints on speech and publication
[00:02:39.730]are the most serious and least tolerable infringement
[00:02:42.620]on First Amendment rights."
[00:02:44.548]Why was Stuart in the wrong?
[00:02:46.277]"The First Amendment protects one's right
[00:02:48.450]to the freedom of speech and the press.
[00:02:50.670]The court concluded that pretrial publicity
[00:02:53.320]does not necessarily lead to an unfair trial.
[00:02:56.090]The Sixth Amendment guarantees defendants a fair trial,
[00:02:59.460]but I can't negate the First Amendment."
[00:03:02.290]Simants was initially
[00:03:04.000]found guilty of first degree murder
[00:03:06.580]and was sentenced to death in the electric chair.
[00:03:09.800]Yet after a successful appeal,
[00:03:12.040]he was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
[00:03:15.500]Simants has since remained a resident
[00:03:17.700]at the Lincoln Regional Center for more than four decades.
[00:03:21.670]In addition to the significance
[00:03:23.260]this case had on Simants and on the community,
[00:03:25.650]this case reaffirmed the importance
[00:03:27.850]of the freedom of the press.
[00:03:29.490]The Supreme Court's opinion
[00:03:31.000]is one of the most frequently cited protections
[00:03:33.680]for the right to gather and report news.

The screen size you are trying to search captions on is too small!

You can always jump over to MediaHub and check it out there.

Comments

0 Comments

NPA v. Stuart

Description

Searchable Transcript

Comments icon comment

Related Channels

Comments