THE CONSTITUTION AND TRIAL

Running head: CONSTITUTION AND TRIAL
CONSTITUTION AND TRIAL
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CONSTITUTION AND TRIAL1
Right to counsel in cases of a criminal defendant's of the United States of America is
guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. In cases where the defendant is
unable to afford an attorney, it is the duty of the government to provide legal aid to the
defendant by arranging an attorney for the person. The aim of this study is to discuss the role
of media in safeguarding the constitutional right of an impartial trial.
The sixth amendment of the constitution guaranteed that a defendant has a
fundamental right of being represented by a counsel in a criminal trial. Under the
Constitution of USA, every accused is eligible for a trial by an impartial jury. Due to
extensive media coverage, selecting jury for high profile cases can be extremely hard as
Jurors might develop a biased opinion towards the media trial. This is wrong as the decision
of the jury can make or break a case. In the case of The People of the State of California v.
Orenthal James Simpson, the media influenced the decision of the jury and mind of the
people of America by continuously selling the testimony of witnesses in the media. This
finally resulted in the delay of the trial and the defendant was acquitted for not committing
the murder of his wife. In another case of, Bundy v. State, though the accused was subjected
to electrocution during the trial, the media covered this serial killer’s entire life and murder
stories like a movie and publicized stories of his looks and female fan following. In another
case of Casey Marie Anthony v. State of Florida, the accused was tried for her daughter’s
murder. The media highlighted the case and the emotions of a mother in such a way that in
spite of the existence of an ample number of circumstantial evidence, the accused was
acquitted from the charge of murder and held guilty for misdemeanour acts.
In this scenario, it is important for the Judges and the Jury to possess an impartial
view and decided a case by the pieces of evidence that are available and not on those