State v. Koon

Harwell, Justice:

Respondent Max A. Meek, an Aiken County Magistrate, ordered that the preliminary hearing of Paul F. Koon, against whom the State sought the death penalty, be closed to the press and the public. We reverse. The record does not contain sufficient findings to support the magistrate’s ruling.

Our recent decision in Steinle & Multimedia, Inc. v. Lollis, 279 S. C. 375, 307 S. E. (2d) 230 (1983), controls here. In Steinle, we held that excluding the press is a “drastic measure” which requires “express findings upon the record.”

The magistrate in the present case apparently considered…