NPA v. Stuart

College of Journalism and Mass Communications Author

10/04/2021 Added

54 Plays

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

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[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.

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NPA v. Stuart

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