[DOWNLOAD] "Rice v. Kempker" by United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Rice v. Kempker
- Author : United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- Release Date : January 09, 2004
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 57 KB
Description
Submitted: February 11, 2004 Plaintiffs Reverend Larry Rice, Reverend Raymond Redlich, and New Life Evangelistic Center, Inc. (hereinafter collectively referred to as New Life) argue that the policy of the Missouri Department of Corrections banning cameras in the execution chamber violates plaintiffs' First Amendment rights of public access. The District Court1 disagreed and granted summary judgment for the defendants, all of whom are officials of the Missouri Department of Corrections (the Department). We affirm. New Life requested permission from the Department to videotape the execution of convicted murderer Daniel Basile. The Department, acting through Director Gary Kempker and officials George Lombardi and Don Roper, applied the Department's Media Policy and denied New Life's request. The Media Policy states simply,""No cameras or tape recording device of any type shall be allowed in the witness area of the execution room or the surrounding area. However, each media witness representative shall be allowed to take paper, pencil and sketch pad to the witness area."" Mo. Dep't of Corrs., Media Policy § 14B. New Life, alleging that the Media Policy violates the First Amendment, brought suit in the District Court seeking a declaratory judgment and an injunction to prevent the enforcement of the no-camera policy. At the summary-judgment stage of the ensuing proceedings, the defendants argued that the Media Policy did not violate any of the freedoms protected by the First Amendment. In the alternative, the defendants argued that if the Media Policy were found to infringe upon a constitutionally protected liberty, any such infringement was outweighed by legitimate penological interests and should be evaluated under the standards set forth in Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 89 (1986). The District Court found that a ban on videotaping executions burdened New Life's constitutional right of access, but agreed with the defendants that the infringement was reasonable in light of legitimate penological concerns. Because we conclude that the Media Policy does not infringe on liberties protected by the First Amendment, we affirm the judgment of the District Court.