South Texas College of Law, Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 7, No. 1, July, 1978 Page: 10 of 13
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July 1978
- P®fl« •
Jaworskí
Advertising
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Whether the reporting of the
events involved in these stories
was accurate is not the point.
Grand juries come from all walks
of life and are fair-minded people.
They are subject to the same
emotions and human reactions
that visit you and me. It is very
difficult for prosecutors not to be
affected subconsciously by emo-
tions and fired-up feelings in the
community.
There is a whipping-up of
frenzy while the grand jury is
engaged in weighing the facts
and while prosecutors are under-
taking to express impartial views
to the grand jury. To add to the
burden, officers under investiga-
tion were given the choice of
resigning or being fired — at the
time the grand jury was still in the
process of trying to determine
whether indictments should be
returned and if so against whom.
All but one officer refused to
resign and the four refusing were
promptly dismissed. The dismis-
sals were reported on the front
page of local newspapers and
carried by television and radio.
Could this prejudgment not wait
until the grand jury had com-
pleted its work? Could there not
have been a suspension of these
officers, pending investigation,
accompanied by an announce-
ment that this was done solely to
await the outcome of the investi-
gation and without any prejudice
to their rights? The action taken
was not motivated to hurt the
rights of the officers involved, yet
this precipitous action is not in
accord with our system of justice.
This untimely action is in deroga-
tion of the right to fair treatment
under law.
Hardly had the scarring of the
individual rights of these officers
reached the ultimate depth when
the Chief of Police released a
unilateral report of what he
conceived the facts to be regard-
ing one of the officers. It became
a front page story. Nothing could
more gravely influence the stand-
ing of this officer in grand jury
deliberations than to have a
report published in which the
head of the Police Force con-
demns him with a set of alleged
findings and conclusions. Why
have grand juries? Why have
trials? Why have constitutional
guarantees? Why have a pre-
sumption of innocence when, with
one fell swoop, all of this officer's
safeguards are impaired, if not
seriously damaged?
The First Amendment protects
tion of the right to print such
articles is not to be denied. That
fact constitutes one horn of the
dilemma. The other horn consists
of the rights of the citizen to a fair
and just process of the law under
other constitutional amendments.
Both horns of the dilemma are a
part of the Bill of Rights.
Why do you suppose the law
authorizes judges, in their dis-
cretion, to sequester petit juries?
News items on the trial in
progress are removed from news-
papers and television and radio
coverage is withheld from the
jury. The obvious answer is to
avoid influencing the jury's im-
partial consideration of the facts.
The same principle applies to
grand jurors. They cannot be
segregated due to their lengthy
period of service but, nonetheless
they should be left to their own
consideration and judgments un-
hampered by news media ac-
counts that are likely to exert
undue influence.
All constitutional rights—of the
press and of the individual —
would be better served if in such
instances the press refrained
from carrying glaring front page
stories of investigations and
alleged facts until after the grand
jury completed its investigation.
Restraint is warranted for the
sake of good constitutional go-
vernment. There is no one
constitutional right that has any
preference over another. They are
of equal stature and you cannot
preserve the Constitution by up-
holding one of its provisions and
at the same time ignoring or
offending another. We have but
one choice — either we believe in
our Constitution in toto, or we
don't believe in it at all.
It is so easy to shut one's eyes
to the rights of one who has been
placed in public disfavor, but it
must be remembered by each of
us that some day this individual
may be someone near and dear to
us and in whose innocence we
fully believe. Then, when it
strikes home, we want the
individual rights, the constitu-
tional guaranties and the rule of
law to be strictly applied. The
applicable test should not be
determined by whose ox is being
gored.
I learned first hand what
happened in Germany when the
Nazi party under Hitler seized
control. One of his first steps in
his seizure was to throttle the
press. Once he accomplished this,
he was free to go about spreading
his propaganda, committing his
wrongs, furthering his program of
trampling on human rights with-
out any fear of public protest.
Several years ago I saw the after-
effects of the suppression of press
freedom in Greece. You and I
have read of similar occurrences
in other countries. The illustra-
tions can be multiplied over and
over again. I must tell you of one
that occurred in 1960 when I was
visiting Nicaragua as it has
particular significance in view of
the recent events in that country.
One of the interesting personali-
ties that I met on that occasion
was the President of the Chamber
of Commerce of Nicaragua. He
had just been released from jail
after serving six months. His
confinement came about because
he dared express himself in
opposition to some of the policies
of the then dictator, another
Somoza who since has died.
In preserving a free and
untrammeled press, the consti-
tutional rights of the individual
must be preserved as well. This is
not simple to achieve at *11 times.
A joint dedication to self-restraint
and fair-mindedness by the news
More Work For Less $
By Elaine Rice
Staff Writer
The first anniversary of the
Supreme Court's Batea-Ostecn
decision on advertising of legal
services arrived at the same time
the State Bar of Texas is
conducting a referendum among
its members on adoption of
related proposed amendments to
its Code of Professional Respon-
sibility.
Results of the referendum are
yet to be announced.
The proposed amendments
spell out strict rules governing
advertising of legal services in
Texas, limiting publication to
notices in "newspapers or gen-
eral circulation" in the attorney's
geographical area of residence or
practice. Only the routine legal
services included in the Bates-
Osteen advertisement are specifi-
cally approved, with any attorney
advertising other services "hav-
ing the burden of justifying that
such services are indeed rou-
tine." No matters of "a contested
or adverse nature" are con-
sidered routine.
The amendments prescribe
periods for which attorneys shall
be bound by advertisements,
what specific information may be
included and prohibitions against
statements as to the quality of
legal service and use of mis-
leading or self-laudatory claims.
The period since the Supreme
Court's decision last June has
seen limited advertising of legal
services taking place in Houston
area publications. A random
sampling of opinions as to results
of advertising among those using
it produced a variety of re-
sponses.
A call to an out-of-town number
in an ad for "Divorce Services of
Texas" brought a reply from an
answering service in Los Angeles,
which in turn referred the caller
to PCM Advertising in Los
Angeles for further information.
Dialing a local number in
another nameless advertisement
brought a comment from an
employee that the advertising
was being done on an "experi-
mental basis," and that the crank
calls, calls from those separated
for 30 years or more and calls
from people who "do not come
in" had made the attorney "wish
the administration of justice can
accomplish much to avoid the
constitutional conflict.
CAROL'S
TYPING SERVICE
For all your typing needs
Fast, efficient service, 10
years experience, reason-
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495-6421
he hadn't experimented."
Michelle Hinson, a practicing
attorney for two and one-half
years who began advertising
within the last four months, finds
that she is "doing a great deal
more work, but not necessarily
taking home mare money."
"I have to do four or five times
as much work just to stay even,"
she said, saying that the in-
creased work has brought in-
creased expenses.
But what has happened, she
said, is that she has gotten
"much more sympathetic to the
people." Most of those who call
in response to her "uncontested
divorce" advertisements have
been separated anywhere from
three to 25 years, she has found.
Many are from the "laborer
class," she said, and the cus-
tomary cost of a divorce is equiva-
lent to a month's salary, and
"they just do not have that
amount of savings."
She does not recommend ad-
vertising for the beginning
lawyer, because "there is a lot
involved in divorce cases and
such that must be learned from
experience."
Leon Burris, practicing for ten
years, but advertising since last
summer, also cautions against
advertising for the beginner,
saying that the resulting volume
of work can prove too much for
one who has not yet learned the
"pitfalls in the law."
The large amount of routine
service work generated by his
advertising has almost done away
with his contested work, he
stated, adding that he has "quad-
rupled the amount of work he
does and doubled his income."
His work is now largely com-
prised of adoptions, uncontested
divorces and many more wills, he
He finds "gratifying," he said,
the fact that a large number of the
people seeking uncontested di-
vorces through him are people
who have been separated up to 30
years or more, whose "fear of
cost" has kept them away from
legal services.
"No comment" was the re-
sponse forthcoming from attor-
neys listed in another local ad,
who said their advertising was too
new for them to make any
statements.
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Dies, David & Bettman, Gerald S. South Texas College of Law, Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 7, No. 1, July, 1978, newspaper, July 1978; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth144377/m1/10/: accessed April 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting South Texas College of Law.