Silver Gavel Awards for Media and The Arts
American Bar Association
1998 Silver Gavel Award Winners: Television
1998 WINNERS | NEWSPAPERS | BOOKS | TELEVISION | RADIO | FILMS & VIDEOS | NEW MEDIA
Judging Justice
WCAX-TV
Burlington, Vermont
Brian Joyce, Reporter/Writer/Co-Producer
Joseph Carroll, Photographer/Editor/Co-Producer
Will Mikell, Series Producer
The Practice: "Spirit of America"
David E. Kelley Productions
Los Angeles, California
Ed Redlich, Writer
Michael Schultz, Director
Jeffrey Kramer, Co-Executive Producer
| Judging Justice WCAX-TV Burlington, Vermont |
Judging Justice, a five-part series by WCAX-TV News3,
the CBS affiliate in Burlington, Vermont, examines the Vermont Supreme Court, the state's
only appellate court. The reports, totaling approximately 37 minutes, aired on WCAX's
evening news broadcasts in early April 1997. The series begins with footage from lower
court trials, then moves to the Vermont Supreme Court, the state's only appeals court. It
explains the court's extensive and varied case list, and improvements that have enabled it
to handle cases with minimal delay. Later segments look at particular Supreme Court cases
that have generated controversy, with the justices explaining the principles that guided
them (including the reasoning in a dissent) and political leaders, law professors and
lawyers offering perspectives. These exchanges help illuminate such issues as burden of
proof and sufficiency of evidence in criminal trials, privacy protections in the state and
federal constitutions, whether the law requires equality in educational funding, and
whether tuition reimbursements to parents who send their children to parochial schools
violate the First Amendment. The final segment looks at the process by which Vermont
selected a new chief justice. Reporter Brian Joyce skillfully interviews justices, other
judges, defendants, suspects, lawyers, police, jurors, legal experts, legislators and the
state's governor, one of the Court's harshest critics. The result is a balanced look at a
branch of government that must resolve some of the state's thorniest disputes.
- Availability: Transcripts of the "Judging Justice" segments
are available at WCAX's
searchable news archive -- search for "judging justice", April 1997.
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COMMITTEE COMMENTARY
In "Judging Justice," WCAX-TV in Burlington provides a remarkable and unique behind-the-scenes look inside the Vermont Supreme Court. For the first time, the justices talk publicly about why they overturned a jury verdict in a notorious murder case, redefined Vermont's search and seizure rules, and issued a landmark decision that forced the revision of the state's education funding laws. This series unlocks the doors to the normally secretive process that shapes and affects the lives of the state's citizens. In giving extensive airtime to issues usually ignored by local broadcast media, "Judging Justice" presents an in-depth, evenhanded, and lasting story about the men and women behind the decisions.
E X C E R P T S F R O M J U D G I N G J U S T I C E
MARSELIS PARSONS (news anchor): Tonight we begin a
week-long series, at least ten reports, on the Vermont Supreme Court. We began thinking
about this series some time ago. First, when the Court prompted public outrage by
overturning the murder conviction of Rebecca Durenleau. And then, this year, the Court's
decision on education funding has stirred debate and also action by the legislature. We're
going to examine both of those cases this week. But tonight, Brian Joyce and photographer
Joe Carroll begin with a look at the system. They take us inside the Supreme Court, so
that we can understand more about "judging justice."
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JUSTICE DENISE JOHNSON: To suggest that the courts are not acting with the kind of earnestness and integrity that I think we generally enjoy, the respect we generally enjoy, was demeaning to the institution.
BRIAN JOYCE (reporter): But many believed that the institution was demeaned even more last fall by the selection process for a new chief of the court. Justices John Dooley and James Morse wanted the job. But their decision in the Durenleau case may have ruled them out, because Gov. Dean had the final say.
GOV. HOWARD DEAN: Sure. I ask about that when I make appointments.
JOYCE: You asked about Durenleau.
DEAN: I asked about Durenleau.
JOYCE: What do you ask?
DEAN: I asked if it's proper to throw out the evidence that a jury has heard that led to a conviction.
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JOYCE: So the Court insists it tipped the scales to correct what would have been a miscarriage of justice. Tomorrow we'll look at other cases, little cases, that tip the scales back to protect individual liberty.
Trash-the stuff we throw away. We cram it into plastic bags. Drop it in a dumpster or leave it of the curb for the haulers. Here the trash trail ends for most people. But not in Vermont thanks to a Supreme Court ruling, the state constitution, and a suspected crime.
| The Practice: "Spirit of
America" David E. Kelley Productions Los Angeles, California |
In the "Spirit of America" episode from the ABC
network drama The Practice (original air date: November 22, 1997), Bobby Donnell
leads a five-lawyer team who are called in by the Capital Defenders Project to obtain a
stay of execution for Randy Jefferson, a black man convicted of murdering a 19-year-old
white woman. A documentary-film crew captures the drama "on camera" as it
unfolds during the 18 harrowing hours leading up to the man's ultimate execution. Viewers
follow Donnell & Associates through each step of the appeals process, from state
officials up to the U.S. Supreme Court. Along the way, the legal team tackles issues such
as ineffective assistance of counsel, race as a factor in the application of the death
penalty, and the politics of capital punishment. "Spirit of America" humanizes a
very stark aspect of the law-the ultimate power of the state--and does not shy away from
its consequences. The viewer is not only exposed to the tortuous legal maneuvering prior
to the execution, but also is taken on the personal journey of the lawyers, guards, and
prison officers who carry out the sentence. Likewise, the documentary-style format allows
this episode to incorporate a myriad of viewpoints on the death penalty, beginning with
"man on the street" interviews, showing the anguish and anger of the murder
victim's parents, and later revealing the conflicting attitudes among the lawyers within
the firm itself.
- Availability: The Practice web site; search the episode guide or your local listings
for "Spirit of America" rebroadcasts on ABC.
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COMMITTEE COMMENTARY
This episode of The Practice exemplifies "mindful entertainment." It is powerful and informative not only as a look at legal issues and process, but also because the team of lawyers depicted struggle with their own views about the death penalty and the values these views represent. Their struggle does not detract from their legal competence, but serves to make the viewing audience experience the complexities of the issue, at once, in legal, political, moral, and emotional terms. David E. Kelly Productions has created a tensely dramatic human story which, balanced and without preaching, leads the audience to consider not only the death penalty itself, but the ways in which it is administered.
E X C E R P T S F R O M T H E P R A C T IC
E:
"S P I R I T O F A M E R I C A"
OPENING TITLE: On September 23, 1990, the body of
nineteen-year-old Jennifer Carson was discovered in the woods near her home in Redland
Hills. Three weeks later, Randall DeWitt Jefferson was arrested and charged with her
murder. He was convicted of homicide with special circumstances and sentenced to death.
His new lawyers have 18 hours to stay his execution.
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"DOCUMENTARY" INTERVIEWER: You don't think the execution will actually take place?
JENNIFER CARSON'S FATHER: The man's had three dates come and go already. Now I hear he's got some new lawyers, some out-of-state lawyers.
JENNIFER CARSON'S MOTHER: I don't understand who'd do a job like that. I mean what kind of people would want to help an animal like Randy Jefferson.
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JIMMY BERLUTI (defense lawyer): I can understand Bobby's position. This isn't a question of guilt or innocence. It's a question of fairness. Obviously that's why we're here, that's why I'm a lawyer-to see that justice is done. But I'm not going to lie to you. I don't see the justice in a young girl having her life snuffed out and the bozo who did it getting to wake up every morning to bacon and eggs on my dime and on your dime.
INTERVIEWER: You sound angry.
JIMMY: Well, maybe I am. It makes me angry when people treat this guy like some kind of saint just because he's going to die tomorrow.
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INTERVIEWER: Eugene, what's your impression of Randy Jefferson?
EUGENE YOUNG (defense lawyer): I don't really know him. That's not the point.
INTERVIEWER: Who or what he is is besides the point?
EUGENE: What he is is black, among other things. There's a point to that.
INTERVIEWER: So, this is question of race with you?
EUGENE: The death penalty is about race. The fact is, if you are a person of color and you kill a white man in this country or, God forbid, you do what they say Randy Jefferson did and kill a white girl, you are twelve times more likely to end up on death row than a white man for killing a black person.
INTERVIEWER: But that's not something you can actually argue in court?
EUGENE: Nope. Can't argue that much in court.
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