Gag Orders
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Gag orders ARE constitutional because the rights of a criminal defendant to a fair trial are more important than the rights of a free press to give news coverage to the trial.
At times, a defendant's Sixth Amendment right, which states, "that in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the state wherein the crime shall have been committed," comes into conflict with the First Amendment right that guarantees "Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of, or abridging the freedom of the press (Dye 99-100). When gag orders are issued in a trial case, they prevent the lawyers, law enforcement officials, witnesses and anyone else directly involved in the case from talking to the news media. In trial cases where gag orders are issued, the question that arises is, which constitutional right takes precedent over the other?
In 1966 during the court case Sheppard vs. Maxwell, that conflict would be solved. The preluding circumstances that brought about that case are as follows: July 4, 1954, Marilyn Sheppard, Dr. Sheppard's pregnant wife, was bludgeoned to death. Dr. Sheppard was the main suspect in her murder...