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Sheppard v. Maxwell The first matters before the Court on October 18, 1954, were defense motions for change of venue and continuance based on pretrial publicity and the trial arrangements for the news media. Defense counsel in reciting those arrange- ments pointed out “Even your Honor yourself, when you tried to mount the bench this morning, found your place occupied by a photographer taking pictures, and you had to remove him from the bench.” The following from one of the first day colloquies be- tween | Court and counsel vividly portrays the setting of 8 trial: “MR. CORRIGAN: If the Court please, I would like the record to show that inside the bar, as I stated before, is a table, and that that table extends over the width of the courtroom; that this courtroom is 26 by 48 feet; that the table runs east and west, and that the west end of the table is within six inches of the seat of the thirteenth juror and approximately two feet from the end of the jury box; that there has been assigned to that table representatives of the following news agencies: “The Akron Beacon J ournal; two seats for the International News Service; three seats for the Cleve- land Press; three seats for the Cleveland News; three seats for the Cleveland Plain Dealer ; two seats for the Associated Press; and a seat for the New York Jour. nal American. “That outside the rail or back of the rail in this courtroom, there are four rows of benches for specta- tors. That the first row of the spectators’ benches have “been assigned by the Court as follows, and are occupied by the following news services: “Two seats to WGAR;; two seats to WERE; one ‘ seat to WCUE; one to WTAM; two seats to WNBK; ~.one seat to WDOK;: one seat to WEWS;; one seat to *~WHK ; one to WXEL, all of these assignments being to~representatives of broadcasting stations, radio stations or television stations, and one seat to the NEA, Newspaper Enterprise Association. “That row two of the seats in the courtroom is assigned as follows: “The Newark, New Jersey, News s ‘the New York Post; the Pittsburgh Post Enterprise; two seats to No. 16077 No. 16077 Sheppard v. Maxwell 57 land News; two seats to the Cleveland Plain eles two seats to the Cleveland Press, the Toledo Blade, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Lorain Jour; nal, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Scripps-Howar News Association. WAKR: to the “That the third row is assigned to ; International News Service; the New York Journal American; Radio Station WSRS, Cleveland Heights; Detroit News; the New York News; two seats are assigned to Life Magazine; one to NBC and the St. Louis Post Dispatch. tte th . “That the last—the only row of seats in the cour room that is not assigned is the last row of the court- room which accommodates about 14 people. . “We also wish to note in the record that there are in this courtroom three loud speakers and a micro- phone which stands in front of the witness chair. “ i orate all these things in the record be- fore your Honor in the matter of our motion, both our motions, and we move at this time that the—I will change that. “I state on information, on which I may be corrected if it is not so, that the seats that I have referred to were assigned by the Court, and that certain designa- tions were put on the table and on the seats designat- ing the locations for these different organizations and newspapers that I have mentioned, and that that as- signment was made by the Court on Wednesday of last week. “Am I correct in that, your Honor? “THE COURT: I beg pardon. I didn’t get the last seat. “MR. CORRIGAN: I say, I understand that these assignments whereby the courtroom is occupied as | have outlined was made by the Court on Wednesday of last week. Is that correct? th “THE COURT: Oh, no. That is not true. e Court will state as to what happened, also when you get through. “MR. CORRIGAN: I noticed before we came to the courtroom that the three rows of seats back of