Where Are the People?

It began as a routine murder trial. Dour Mrs. Charlotte Black, 63, a big, thin-lipped woman with square-lensed spectacles, stood accused in Santa Rosa, Calif, of pumping three bullets into the head of her husband Martin, 67. But hardly had the jury been sworn in when the case became a cause. Counsel for the defense told the court that Mrs. Black waived her right to a public trial. Judge Donald Geary promptly ordered spectators out. A lone newsman, Don Engdahl of the

Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, kept his place while the bailiff explained who he was. "That makes no difference," snapped the judge. "Clear the court."

With that ruling, unprecedented in California, peppery little Judge Geary, 64, a veteran of 26 years on the bench, put the case into headlines. Thundered the San Francisco News: "It took centuries of bloody struggle to outlaw star chamber sessions, and the principle which requires judicial proceedings to be conducted in public still must be vigorously defended." San Francisco papers raced to get a higher court writ that would open up the courtroom. They won an order for Judge Geary either to open his court to the press or give an appellate court the reasons for his refusal.

But the order gave Geary one week to defend his ruling, and the judge coolly ran the trial on a brisk timetable assuring its completion before newsmen could possibly get in. On the trial's second day, when seven reporters defiantly barged in, he ordered them right out, but avoided the possible delay of charging them with contempt. Why had he banned the press? Because, said Judge Geary, Mrs. Black was preparing to describe how her husband had forced her to commit perverse acts, and public knowledge of the case would "embarrass not only the defendant but the four women on the jury." Added the judge: "As far as I'm concerned, the failure of the district attorney to object waived any objection on the part of the People."

While the California papers awaited their day in court, the trial ended in a verdict of guilty with a recommendation of leniency. But the California papers were determined to win their point for the future. Summed up Al -E. Gilbert, San Francisco manager of the California Newspaper Publishers Association: "This is a criminal action: the People against so-and-so. Where are the People? We're in the same position we were in when they barred smut comics. We don't like smut comics.

But when you start barring them, you can regulate the editorial page."

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