Tom C. Clark

“ Rather, he asserted that the judge impaneling the grand jury had breached his duty to ascertain on voir dire whether any prospective juror had been influenced by the adverse publicity and that this error had been compounded by his failure to adequately instruct the grand jury concerning bias and prejudice. It may be that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires the State, having once resorted to a grand jury procedure, to furnish an unbiased grand jury. ”

“ The April 12 issue of the U.S. News & World Report ran a caption: 'Take a look around Seattle these days, and you find what a Senate inquiry can do to a top labor leader in his own home town.' On April 26 the county prosecutor announced that a special grand jury would be impaneled in Seattle 'to investigate possible misuse of Teamsters Union funds by international president Dave Beck * * *.' It was later announced that former Mayor Devin of Seattle was to be appointed Chief Special Prosecutor. ”

“ The judge immediately and in the presence of all of the panel eliminated six prospective grand jurors when indications of prejudice appeared. No grand juror personally knew petitioner or was shown to be adverse to the institutions with which petitioner is generally identified. Every person who was selected on the grand jury took an oath that he would not indict any person through 'hatred or malice.' Moreover, the grand jury sat for six weeks before any indictment was returned against petitioner. ”

“ While this Court stands ready to correct violations of constitutional rights, it also holds that 'it is not asking too much that the burden of showing essential unfairness be sustained by him who claims such injustice and seeks to have the result set aside, and that it be sustained not as a matter of speculation but as a demonstrable reality. ”

“ Intermittent publicity continued, some from Washington, D.C., until August 28 when a federal grand jury indicted petitioner and others on additional income tax evasion counts. The co-conspirators named in this latter indictment were then called before the Committee in Washington, and these hearings, which were held on November 5, brought on additional publicity. On November 12 Dave Beck, Jr., went to trial on other larceny charges and was convicted on November 23, a Saturday. ”