When a crime attracts media attention, what is the fallout of publicity that occurs prior to a trial? Discuss the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the defendant in the Boston marathon bombing case.
What will be an ideal response?
Answers may vary.Legal cases have always attracted media attention, and the judicial system has struggled for centuries with the fallout of publicity that occurs prior to a trial. With the development of 24-hour news networks, thousands of cable and satellite channels, online news sources, and social media, trial-related information is more accessible to the public than ever before. As a result, the judicial system is experiencing new and growing concerns about the impact of this information on prospective jurors, and the number of defendants who claim their case has been jeopardized by pre-trial publicity has more than doubled in the past 20 years. The civil litigation system is also affected by publicity concerning product liability and medical malpractice claims, among others, and by the reporting of unusually large damage awards.One recent example in criminal law involved the 2013 Boston marathon bombing in which three people were killed and approximately 280 people were injured. The defendant, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was charged with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death. (Tsarnaev's brother, Tamerlan, who had allegedly become a follower of radical Islam, was also involved but was killed in the days following the bombing after being shot by police.) Prior to trial, Tsarnaev's attorneys argued on multiple occasions that because so many Bostonians had been affected by the bombing and exposed to publicity about victims' injuries and bystanders' heroism, the trial should be moved to a different location.But Judge George O'Toole denied their requests, noting that "the time tested method for determining whether a juror can actually set aside his beliefs and apply the presumption of innocence is voir dire." Indeed, nearly all prospective jurors had heard details of the bombing and although many presumed that Tsarnaev was guilty, they were not automatically dismissed. Rather, Judge O'Toole reminded jurors that the law requires that they set aside their opinions, and then asked whether they could decide the case based solely on the evidence that would emerge during the trial and on his instructions. Many prospective jurors said they could. The jury that was eventually selected found Tsarnaev guilty and sentenced him to death. But this trial highlights some of the challenges to the legal system's goal of forming fair and impartial juries when the case has attracted a great deal of pre-trial publicity.
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Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s).