Goss v. Nelson

TYMKOVICH, Circuit Judge.

I. Introduction

The question presented in this appeal is whether pretrial publicity denied John Goss a fair trial. Goss’s claim arises from pretrial press coverage of the September 1986 murder of his former girlfriend, Janice Amerin, and the subsequent manhunt that culminated in his arrest. Ms. Amerin lived in the small town of Plains, Kansas, which is located in Meade County in the southwest part of the state on the Oklahoma border. She was shot and killed in her parents’ home, with her mother as an eyewitness to the crime. The victim’s mother identified Goss as the…