Voir dire

A judge erred when he excluded a criminal defendant’s family from jury selection, Texas’ highest court for criminal cases recently ruled.

The state Court of Criminal Appeals remanded the child sexual assault case to the lower court for a new trial, finding that the error violated defendant Jeffrey Steadman’s constitutional right to a public trial. A jury convicted Steadman of aggravated sexual assault of a child younger than 14 and indecency with a child.

A Washington, D.C., trial judge erred when he did not allow Washington Post reporters access to the questionnaires of jurors who convicted the killer of former intern Chandra Levy, D.C.’s appellate court ruled today.

A Pennsylvania judge intentionally withheld the date of a jury selection that occurred Tuesday in a high-profile case to prevent a newspaper from doing its usual pre-trial coverage, and concerned parties remain stunned and unsure of how to respond in this rare case.

An Ohio judge presiding over the murder trial of an alleged serial killer on Wednesday reduced the restrictions he had previously placed on the media's reporting of the jury selection process.

The federal district court in the District of Columbia is hearing its first obscenity case in over 20 years, but members of the press and public are being denied access to critical portions of the trial process.

The Supreme Court of Ohio has prohibited the enforcement of a gag order banning the news media from reporting on a criminal trial until a jury has been seated in the second trial of another defendant charged in the same incident.

The Supreme Court seemed sympathetic on Monday to the argument that former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling did not receive a fair trial in Houston following the energy company's bankruptcy and subsequent collapse.