Newspapers of New England, Inc. v. Bloom

This case raises issues concerning a putative right of access to certain pre-trial papers generated in connection with a prospective criminal proceeding. It involves the always delicate attempt to' accommodate the competing interests of the public’s “Right to Know” with a defendant’s right to a criminal trial devoid of unwarranted and corrosive prejudicial pre-trial publicity. The factual context from which these issues arise is as follows:

Early in July 1987, one Kenneth Phoenix was arrested and charged with murder in the Town of Beichertown. Prior to the arrest, a search warrant was issued…