United States Ninth Circuit

In murder trials, allowing spectators to wear buttons depicting the victim violates a defendant's constitutional rights where such a practice interferes with the right to a fair trial by an impartial jury free from outside influences.

Appellate Information

• Argued 01/24/2008
• Decided 04/08/2005
• Published 04/08/2005

Judges

• BERZON, Circuit Judge:, Before:  STEPHEN REINHARDT, DAVID R. THOMPSON, and MARSHA S. BERZON, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Sanford Svetcov, Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP, San Francisco, CA, for the petitioner-appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Gregory A. Ott and Peggy S. Ruffra, Deputy Attorneys General, Gerald A. Engler and Dane R. Gillette, San Francisco, CA, Assistant Attorneys General, and Edmund G. Brown Jr., Attorney General of the State of California, for the respondent-appellee.