Watching Trooper Robert Higbee’s trial for vehicular homicide today on CNN’s TruTV I became annoyed at the over-frequent, too-long commercial breaks—and it suddenly occurred to me: if I were on public trial I wouldn’t want the public to be forced to watch commercials as the quid pro quo for observing my ordeal.

Yet, in Trooper Higbee’s case over the past few days, this humble, non-lawyer viewer has watched public-service announcements involving traffic safety, as well as auto insurance commercials, not to mention tort lawyers soliciting clients and fast-food ads. Does this seem right from Trooper Higbee’s perspective?

• Don’t get me wrong: I’m all for capitalism and for the media making a buck. It’s the American way. Money doesn’t grow on trees . . . . After all, I’m trying to sell my books right now (see Sidebar for “The Evil that Men Do” and “Chalk Ghost”). I understand that CNN’s TruTV isn’t publicly funded CSPAN. TruTV must sell advertising time in order to continue to operate and to make a profit. Commerce isn’t the issue I’m concerned about.

What I’m interested in is the issue of cameras in the courtroom.

Stay with Me

I’ve just begun reading Ronald L. Goldfarb’s TV or Not TV: Television, Justice, and the Courts (New York University Press, 1998). Fascinating read! Loaded with historical justice—my kind of book. This afternoon I hit Chapter 2, “The Free Press, the Fair and Public Trial: A Constitutional Conundrum.”

• I’m a mystery writer. I don’t like giving away the ending. I want you to be patient and follow my logic to its conclusion. But, I’m going do to the unthinkable: spoil it.

I’m beginning to wonder if the Sixth Amendment “right to a public trial” means what we seem to think it means today: maybe in the 18th century it didn’t mean a defendant has the right to be tried in view of the public but to be tried at public expense. (This conclusion emerges not only from Goldfarb’s fascinating history of the Sixth Amendment but also from my understanding  of the evolution of the word “public.”)

To be continued . . . .