Abstract
In KUTV v. Wilkinson, the Utah Supreme Court upheld against constitutional challenge a state district court order restraining the Salt Lake City news media from reporting on the defendant's alleged connections with the Mafia during the pendency of a criminal trial. The decision marks the first time that an appellate court has upheld a prior restraint on press reports of a judicial proceeding by applying the test enunciated by the United States Supreme Court in Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart. The Wilkinson decision raises the issue of how to balance the right to a free press with the right to a fair trial when news publicity threatens to prejudice the jury against a criminal defendant. This comment will analyze the fair trial/free press issue raised in Wilkinson and will suggest that, once the trial has begun, measures short of a prior restraint should be the exclusive means of protecting the defendant's right to trial by an impartial jury.
Recommended Citation
Hagen, Scott A.
(1985)
"KUTV v. Wilkinson: Another Episode in the
Fair Tha/Free Press Saga,"
Utah Law Review: Vol. 1985:
No.
3, Article 5.
Available at:
https://dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol1985/iss3/5