When a suspect emerges as the focus of a law enforcement investigation, or if someone is charged with a crime, the press often publishes articles providing background about that person. A suspect with a difficult past can suffer from adverse publicity in such circumstances, and it's possible that widespread publicity can bias potential and actual jurors.

I've provided a story in the Boston Globe that profiles Thomas Shay , a young man just a day before his twentieth birthday . Authorities are investigating Shay to find out if he is in any way responsible for the death of a police officer who died when a bomb went off in Shay's driveway . The reporters talked with a wide array of people who knew Shay , which is typical in such circumstances . They also seem to have searched public records . They came up with a lot of negative information about Shay . As you'll see when you read the article , they wrote in detail about his problems . As the headline stated : "Self -professed bomb target has long history of problems."

For this assignment:

1. List and briefly discuss at least ten pieces of information in the story that fall under one or more of the categories of pretrial publicity that I've appended to this note . We went over this list in class.

2. What impression might a member of the community , a potential juror , have of Shay after reading this article ? Might the information prejudice people against Shay , making it easier to find him guilty ? What information might be particularly troublesome in this regard.

Freedom of the Press vs. the Right to a Fair Trial Pretrial publicity can prejudice either the jury. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote: "The theory of our system is that the conclusions to be reached in a case will be induced only by evidence and arguments in open court, and not by any outside influence, whether of private talk or public print." The rules of evidence require that certain information must be excluded from trial. This evidence is not to be considered by jurors in deciding a case. However, pretrial publicity may bring some of this evidence before prospective jurors. Examples: 1. Confessions 2. Prior record of convictions 3. Evidence obtained by an unlawful search 4. Results of investigations 5. Hearsay and gossip 6. Lifestyle and character flaws 7. Statements by witnesses 8. Statements by attorneys, prosecutors, and police 9. Other potentially prejudicial materials: opinion polls, editorialsSelf-professed bomb target has long history of problems By Matthew Brelis and Doris Sue Wong GLOBE STAFF Thomas A. Shay, who contends he was the intended target of a bomb that exploded in his father's Roslindale driveway and fatally wounded a Boston police officer, has a long psychiatric history and is deeply disturbed, according to neighbors, relatives and court records. As police continued yesterday to probe his troubled background - which includes an arrest for prostitution - to determine if he could have made the bomb that killed Officer Jeremiah J. Hurley, Shay's sister said he was incapable of trying to harm his father, the person who discovered the bomb and called police. But Paula Shay did say: "My brother has got prob- GLOBE STAFF PHOTO / TOM LANDERS . lems. And he's had them for a long time. Thomas A. Shay arrives at Quincy District Court "This is very tragic for my family," she said. "Some- yesterday for a probation violation hearing. one tried to kill my father and he [Tommy] wouldn't do It was a death knell for the 15-year-old marriage. that, but he would say anything." On Nov. 17, the elder Shay was told to vacate the Thomas A. Shay turns 20 tomorrow. From at least Milton house. Living in Roslindale with his girlfriend, the time he was 4, there have been strains on the family. Mary Flanagan, he filed for divorce on May 19, 1988, According to court records, Thomas L. Shay beat his seven months after getting custody of his son. wife Nancy from October 1975 into the winter of 1976. According to a spokeswoman for the Department of The beatings were so severe that police were called and Youth Services, young Shay was detained for three Nancy Shay, a Brighton housewife, sought treatment at months in 1988 and 1989 after failing to post bail on St. Elizabeth's Hospital, she alleged in court records. charges of receiving stolen property, but was never com- She said the beatings occurred in front of her two daugh- mitted to the DYS following a conviction in juvenile ters from a previous marriage and the couple's three court. children, Nancy, Paula and Thomas. The younger Shay said at a press conference he Law enforcement sources say the younger Shay has called Thursday night that he owed Ralph Pace, a a juvenile record, much of it in Milton, where he grew up Stoughton accountant, $50,000 from two years ago and after the family left Brighton. While the Milton incidents that the debt may have prompted the bombing. are "pretty minor stuff," according to a source, Shay has Pace said he is not owed money by Shay, but that an outstanding default warrant in Boston Municipal Shay stole his car and totalled it in 1989. Court for a common nightwalking charge, in July 1989. Shay has said that he works as a professional mas- He is currently being held at the Norfolk County Jail seur at the Club Body Center in Rhode Island. But there in Dedham in lieu of bail on a charge of violating proba- is no such listing in any Rhode Island directory. tion from a 1989 conviction for receiving stolen goods. He also made claims that he worked as an EMT, Neighbors from Milton said the young Shay was volunteering for the Red Cross during the San Francisco withdrawn but very different. earthquake. Red Cross officials in San Francisco have no "He used to kick the spokes out from the porch rail- record of a 17-year-old volunteer named Thomas A. ing and I remember kids yelling once that Tommy had a Shay. knife and he was going to cut the cat's tail off," said one Sean McGettrick, 24, who said he knew Shay while neighbor who requested anonymity. both were children in Milton, said Shay liked to "pull "He came up to me with a cardboard box once and stunts." said, 'I know that you know what to do with this.' I McGettrick said that, about five years ago, Shay told looked in the box and there was a dead squirrel. He authorities at Wollaston Beach that he was swimming thought I could bring it back to life, and he seemed puz- with a friend and that the friend suddenly disappeared in zled. the water. McGettrick said the claim triggered a massive "It seemed like he was always in a fog.' three-hour search involving Metropolitan Police, the Shay "has had serious psychiatric problems," accord- Coast Guard and other authorities. ing to Dr. Robert Weiner, a forensic psychiatrist hired In the midst of the search, Shay informed authorities' by Aetna Insurance who examined Shay's father as part that his story was a hoax, McGettrick said. of a suit the elder Shay brought against a Dedham man. McGettrick also recalled an occasion when he was The younger Shay "was hospitalized at the Gaebler about 14 years old and was riding his bike near the Blue Psychiatric Hospital for Children at age 5. He had also Hills Parkway in Milton. He said he saw Shay get into an been treated at the Nazareth Home, Spaulding Center empty refrigerator box, pull the lid closed behind him and the Baird Center," wrote Weiner. and then begin rolling the box down the busy parkway. Shay also spent time at Bridgewater State Hospital "He just climbed in it, closed it up and he rolled it all after he threatened to commit suicide when he was 17. the way down the street," McGettrick said. "I thought it While at the state hospital, Shay made the statement was a little suicidal, or something." that he had been "sexually abused beginning at the age According to court records, Shay has made at least of 9," according to a confidential psychiatric report. The two suicide threats. Despite the history, his attorney, report did not name an abuser. William C. Mcphee, says he is not a threat to anyone, According to a Department of Social Services spokes- including himself. woman, Shay was a client of DSS from at least 1980 until "He's not a danger to himself. He is not a danger to he turned 18 in 1989. others," said Mcphee. "He is not involved in that Roslin- On Nov. 12, 1981 - nine days after Thomas A. Shay dale situation and unfortunately he finds himself caught turned 10 - his mother filed for a temporary restraining up in an investigation that he knows nothing about." order against her husband, saying that on Oct. 30, 1981, he had struck her and that on other occasions he had Globe staff writer John Ellement contributed to this threatened her. report