Though the facts differ wildly in each case, there is a common issue running through them: Is it possible to guarantee a defendant’s right to a fair trial if there is a deluge of unfavorable media coverage before a jury is even selected?
Four trials are beginning at roughly the same time: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Aaron Hernandez, Eddie Ray Routh, James Holmes.
This is quite a fusillade of high-profile trials.
By way of example last year, one high-profile case captivated viewers: The trial of an disabled world-class sprinter we’d mostly never heard of, in a sport that is newsworthy for exactly half an hour every four years during the Olympics. Plus, this all happened some 10,000 miles away from American shores in South Africa, which meant that by the time most (unemployed) Americans woke up, most of the trial was already over. Yet, the interminable murder trial of Oscar Pistorius occupied much of the media during its intermittent installments.
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One wonders how the Sheppard court would have decided that case today. The judicial opinion might instead have been only one sentence: “Maybe this Sheppard situation wasn’t as bad as we originally thought …”
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