Federal Judiciary

Media matters

 There's been a ton of publicity about the Steve Bannon arrest and charges.  The prosecution has issued its press releases and even held a press conference.  DOJ is a media machine these days.  It wasn't always like that.  But heaven-forbid that a defendant try to respond to the press... 

Bannon's co-defendant called the case a witch hunt and DOJ has filed a letter complaining to the judge that the defendants are making extra-judicial statements which may taint the jury pool.  DOJ had the chutzpah to cite to Sheppard v. Maxwell, F. Lee Bailey's Supreme Court case which found that the defendant (Sam Sheppard, a/k/a the Fugitive) could not get a fair trial with all of the publicity surrounding his trial.  

If DOJ is going to speak to the press, then defendants should be permitted to respond.

Full post as published by Southern District of Florida on August 31, 2020 (boomark / email).