Televised trial focus of debate
By Frank Davies
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON (KRT) — The
federal judge presiding over the first
trial in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
will hear arguments today over an
old issue with urgent relevance:
Should this trial, with the whole
world watching, be televised?
Court TV, which has broadcast
more than 700 trials in 10 years, is
asking U.S. District Judge Leonie
Brinkema to allow TV coverage of
the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui,
charged with conspiring to commit
the attacks on the World Trade Cen
ter and the Pentagon.
The request has the support of
Moussaoui’s attorneys.
“Televising the trial will ensure
that the entire world is able to watch
the proceedings and will add an ad
ditional layer of protection to see that
these proceedings are fairly conduct
ed,” the attorneys wrote.
It also has reignited a debate over
whether cameras affect the behavior of
courtroom participants or the outcome.
The arguments will play out in
federal court, the last bastion of a ban
on TV coverage. In the last 25 years,
all states have allowed cameras in
some proceedings: 37 states allow
broadcasting criminal trials.
“If ever there was a case for allow
ing TV in a federal trial, this is it, given
this attack on U.S. soil,” said Karen
Kammer, a Miami attorney who has
represented TV stations seeking
greater access. “This is the perfect op
portunity to re-examine the federal
policy.”
But many veterans of federal
courts don’t agree.
Gregory Wallance, a former feder
al prosecutor in private practice in
New York, said that TV has “a dis
torting influence in high-profile,
emotionally charged cases.”
“With the stakes in this case, you
need the utmost decorum, and with
the security concerns, you know ju
rors and witnesses don’t want their
faces shown,” said Wallance.
The Justice Department warned
that coverage would make it more
difficult to persuade witnesses to tes
tily against Moussaoui.
“A worldwide broadcast might
assist (terrorists) in retaliating
against witnesses,” wrote federal
prosecutors.
Edward Davis, a former chief
U.S. district judge in South Florida,
has wrestled
with the issue
for years, and
comes down
somewhere in
the middle.
He believes
federal appel
late court pro
ceedings, with
lawyers argu
ing directly to
judges, should be televised and
would “help educate” the public —
as live coverage did of the Florida
courts’ litigation in the Bush vs.
Gore election battle.
“But I’m not real comfortable with
televising criminal trials” in federal
court, said Davis, now in private
practice in Miami.
“I think cameras have an effect on
lawyers and judges, even though
they often say it doesn’t,” Davis said.
Many critics of televised coverage
cite the O.J. Simpson murder trial as
a case of the cameras distorting the
outcome. But defenders say the
Simpson case was an aberration, and
that every day viewers learn a lot by
seeing their local courts in action.
“In most courtrooms, cameras
have become an inconspicuous part
of the landscape,” said David Dow,
MOUSSAOUI
co-author with Marjorie Cohn of
“Cameras in the Courtroom,” a study
o*f the practice.
“A defendant or witness can try to
use it for propaganda, but a judge with
a strong hand can handle that,” said
Dow, a retired CBS correspondent.
The Judicial Conference, a pow
erful group of 27 senior federal
judges that administers the federal
court system, has adamantly resis
ted cameras. Chief Justice William
Rehnquist of the Supreme Court,
who heads the conference, has
been a leading opponent.
In her Alexandria, Va., court
room, Judge Brinkema may not be
able to allow TV coverage even if
she supported it, given the opposi
tion of the conference.
“That policy is not going to change
as long as Justice Rehnquist is there,”
predicted Davis, who served on a
committee of judges that debated the
issue in the early 1990s.
In rare cases, federal judges have
permitted TV coverage of civil pro
ceedings in their courtrooms, but
there is no federal precedent for tel
evising a criminal trial.
Congress did authorize closed-cir
cuit coverage of the Oklahoma City
bombing trial for families of the vic
tims. The Senate has done the same
for the Moussaoui trial and the
House is expected to act soon.
The unprecedented nature of the
Sept. 11 attacks prompts advocates
of coverage to argue that the entire
nation was victimized, and televi
sion allows “all Americans to exer
cise their constitutional right to ob
serve this trial,” as Court TV put it.
Dow said that globed TV coverage
“would be a great opportunity to
show the world how the U.S. justice
system works.”
©2002, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
Enron will supply UC’s
energy despite lawsuit
ay Roiiy nayourn
Daily Bruin (U. California-Los Angeles)
(U-WIRE) LOS ANGELES — In a
unique situation, the University of
California is hoping Enron can
keep supplying its campuses with
energy, while at the same time
seeking money that, the UC claims,
it unfairly lost to the former giant.
The UC entered into a lawsuit
Dec. 21 against senior members of
bankrupt Enron, claiming top-level
employees released false financial
statements and engaged in mas
sive, illegal “insider trading” at the
expense of its stockholders.
The UC was one of many groups
to take legal action against the
Texas-based energy-supplying
firm. A U.S. District Court in Hous
ton is currently “consolidating all
of these lawsuits,” said UC
spokesman Charles McFadden.
The total loss for all UC portfolios
from Enron’s collapse measures $145
million, or 6.3 percent of the univer
sity’s investment funds, according to
the UC Office of the President.
Despite the loss, UC officials say
the UC’s pension plan recipients
will not be hurt significantly.
“The alleged financial fraud loss
es from the (UC) retirement plan’s
Enron position in no way affects the
ability of the retirement plan ... to
meet its obligation to its beneficiar
ies,” said David Russ, treasurer to
the UC Board of Regents.
The market value of the UC’s
portfolios was $54 billion as of
Nov. 30, according to UCOP.
But the lawsuit isn’t the UC’s only
worry concerning Enron. Some be
lieve the energy contract between
the UC and Enron—which filed for
bankruptcy, but is still operational
— is on shaky ground after the com
pany made massive cutbacks.
As of now, seven UC schools are
still receiving energy from the com
pany under a contract that requires
Enron to supply the UC and Califor
nia State University systems with en
ergy through March 2004. UCLA and
UC Riverside receive energy from lo
cal companies such as the Los Ange
les Department of Water and Power.
Neither McFadden nor University
Counsel Lloyd Lee were sure how
long Enron would be able to supply
the UC, but both said that right now,
the contract benefits the UC greatly.
The UC is receiving eneigy at the
rate of about 6.9 cents per hour —
well below the ever-fluctuating mar
ket price—and a new contract could
cost the university millions of dollars.
“Currently it’s a very advanta
geous contract,” Lee said.
After Enron filed for bankruptcy
Dec. 2, a number of individuals and
groups filed lawsuits. By Dec. 6,60
complaints had been registered.
The lawsuit claims that people
who purchased Enron securities
between October 1998 and Nov. 27,
2001 were cheated out of their
money, as Enron executives re
leased false financial statements,
artificially inflating the price of En
ron securities. With inflated stocks,
Enron executives sold their shares,
yielding proceeds of $1.1 billion,
before watching their company
collapse, plaintiffs allege.
Enron spokespersons were un
available for comment after calls to
its Houston press office Friday, but
Enron has repeatedly denied alle
gations.
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