Phoenix Newspapers, Inc. v. United States District Court for the District of Arizona

Phoenix Newspapers, Inc. and KPNX Broadcasting Co. (collectively, “the Press”) petition for a writ of mandamus challenging the district court’s order sealing the transcripts of hearings conducted during jury deliberations in a criminal trial. We hold that the district court erred by denying access to the hearing transcript without complying with the procedural and substantive requirements for sealing the record from the public.

I

On May 13, 1997, the criminal jury trial of John Fife Symington, the sitting Governor of Arizona, began. During the approximately three full months of the trial and thereafter, the case received extensive media coverage. On August 8, 1997, the case was sent to the jury, which deliberated for three and a half weeks before returning a guilty verdict on seven counts of fraud on September 3, 1997.

On August 22, 1997, in the midst of jury deliberations, the district court conducted two hearings to investigate the reports of two jurors and Symington’s secretary that they had received threatening telephone calls during the previous night. At the beginning of the first hearing, the court announced that because the hearing dealt with “a matter relating to…