N.J. high court upholds ban on news media contact with jurors
By The Associated Press
04.23.02
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TRENTON, N.J. — A judge was within her rights to bar reporters from speaking with jurors after they were done deliberating in the murder trial of a rabbi last year, the state Supreme Court ruled yesterday.
In a 5-2 decision, the court ruled the judge's order barring reporters from contacting jurors should stand — but only until a second jury reaches a verdict in the case of Cherry Hill Rabbi Fred J. Neulander.
The rabbi is accused of arranging the 1994 murder of his wife Carol.
When jurors reached an impasse during the original trial last fall, Superior Court Judge Linda G. Baxter declared a mistrial.
She then refused to relax her rule barring reporters from contacting jurors, saying that more publicity would hurt Neulander's chance of getting an unbiased jury for a second trial.
Philadelphia Newspapers Inc., publisher of the Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News then challenged Baxter's order.
The court agreed with Baxter, stating in the order: "Counsel should not receive pretrial insights into the juror deliberations from the first trial and that no less restrictive alternative than barring juror interviews until completion of the trial will achieve that objective."
The court did not issue a full opinion on the case.
Two judges, Virginia Long and Chief Justice Deborah T. Poritz disagreed, saying that Baxter's order on interviews with jurors violated freedom of the press.
Besides barring reporters from approaching jurors even after the trial was over, Baxter forbade them from publishing or broadcasting the names or images of the jurors.
The court threw out that restriction yesterday.
Civil contempt charges remain in place against four Philadelphia Inquirer reporters accused of seeking comment from jurors and publishing the name of one of them.
A hearing is scheduled for May 23 for the four reporters — George Anastasia, Joseph Gamberdello, Emilie Lounsberry and Dwight Ott.
Reaction from the newspaper's lawyer was mixed.
"We are pleased that the court reaffirmed the media's right to publish the jury's name, which had been revealed in open court," Inquirer lawyer Warren Faulk said in a prepared statement. "At the same time we are disappointed that the court has restricted the right of the media to publish the remarks of jurors who want to talk about their individual experiences in such an important case."
Another reporter, Carol Saline of Philadelphia Magazine, was found guilty of civil contempt for approaching a juror before deliberations had ended. Saline was fined $1,000 and received a suspended sentence.
The saga for 60-year-old Neulander, meanwhile, continues.
Jury selection for the retrial is scheduled to begin in August in another county, most likely in central New Jersey.
Update
N.J. high court explains ruling upholding ban on media contact with jurors
Majority says prosecutors might get unfair advantage in rabbi's retrial if they hear news reports of what jurors in original trial thought of their case.
07.24.02
Previous
Newspapers' attorney claims media restrictions during trial were unfair
New Jersey Supreme Court hears arguments over judge's order stemming from rabbi's murder trial
03.26.02
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