Theodore Trautwein
Encyclopedia
Theodore Walter Trautwein (March 29, 1920 – August 19, 2000) was an American
judge
from New Jersey
who presided over issues related to release of reporter's notes that arose from the 1978 murder
trial of "Dr. X" physician Mario Jascalevich
, in which Trautwein held a reporter from The New York Times
in contempt for refusing to turn over these investigative notes and held the reporter involved in jail for 40 days, triggering a separate set of cases on the limits of shield laws in protecting journalist
s from testifying about information they collected from their sources.
on March 29, 1920, attended Hackensack High School
and earned a baseball
scholarship at Columbia University
. He was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals
as a pitcher, but needed to work to help support his family and got a job as a stevedore
. After attending the United States Merchant Marine Academy
, he served in the United States Navy
during World War II
. Following the completion of his military service, he attended New York University
and earned his law degree from the New York University School of Law
, passing the bar in 1953.
judge starting in 1964, and later as a District Court judge, Trautwein issued rulings that supported creation of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission
to provide state oversight of development in the New Jersey Meadowlands
and of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority
, which brought horse racing and professional sports to the Meadowlands.
He was named as a New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division
judge in 1981.
, a physician who had been charged with murdering three of his patients at an Oradell, New Jersey
hospital with curare
was brought to trial. The cases had occurred in the mid-1960s and the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office had declined to pursue the cases at the time. In 1976, reporter M. A. Farber
of The New York Times
wrote a series of articles that exposed the cases, with the public attention and outcry leading the Bergen County Prosecutor to reopen the cases, exhume and test the bodies for curare, and file charges against Dr. Jascalevich after the muscle relaxant was found by chemical analysis.
Attorney Raymond A. Brown
blamed other doctors at the hospital of framing Jascalevich to cover up their own ineptitude and charged that Farber had conspired with prosecutors to advance their respective careers by pointing the finger of blame at Jascalevich. After Brown subpoenaed the reporter,
Farber testified in the case but cited the First Amendment of the United States Constitution when he refused to turn over thousands of pages of the reporter's notes that the defense had requested, citing a compelling right to protect the identity of the sources used in the articles from individuals who had spoken to him with the expectation that their confidence would be maintained. Time
magazine called the deadlock "a head-on collision between the First and Sixth Amendments", citing the conflict between the reporter's and newspaper's right of Freedom of the Press
and the defendant's Right to a fair trial
. Trial judge William J. Arnold had Judge Trautwein address the issues related to the release of the papers in his role as an assignment judge for all Bergen County courts. In July 1978, Trautwein sentenced Farber to six months in jail and assessed fines of $5,000 each day to The Times, saying that Farber had chosen placing "your privilege and your concept of your constitutional rights above the rights of the people of this state and this defendant"
With several breaks for appeals, Farber ended up spending a total 40 days in the Bergen County Jail and was not released until October 24 after Jascalevich was acquitted. The New Jersey Supreme Court
upheld Trautwein's decision and stripped reports of shield law protections, though the New Jersey Legislature
responded by passing even stronger shield laws to protect reporters. Governor of New Jersey
Brendan Byrne
pardoned Farber in 1982 and $100,000 of the fines were reimbursed to the newspaper.
Trautwein's actions in regard to Farber have been used as a case study
in both law schools and schools of journalism. Jane E. Kirtley of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
cited how "Farber's case roused journalists out of their complacency", noting that "Going to jail for more than a month is significant in anyone's eyes."
had been sentenced to life in prison for the shooting deaths in 1963 of two police officers in Lodi, New Jersey
. The New Jersey State Parole Board
was willing to release him once arrangements were made for making restitution to the survivors and in 1980 assigned Trautwein responsibility for setting the amounts. Trautwein refused to do so, saying, "It would be a gruesome, illogical, self-evident act of futility to order the restoration of the victims' lives." Without the restitution arrangements, Trantino's parole had been rejected and he remained in jail beyond Trautwein's death. He was finally released in 2002, after spending 38 years in jail.
for the two years before his death, Trautwein died there at age 80 on August 19, 2000, of Heart failure. He was survived by his wife, Lorna, a daughter, a son and four grandchildren.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
from New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
who presided over issues related to release of reporter's notes that arose from the 1978 murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
trial of "Dr. X" physician Mario Jascalevich
Mario Jascalevich
The "Dr. X" killings were a series of suspicious deaths, by curare poisoning, in 1966 at a Bergen County, New Jersey hospital. A newspaper investigation during the mid-1960s led to the indictment of an Argentina-born physician, Mario Enrique Jascalevich , in 1976...
, in which Trautwein held a reporter from The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
in contempt for refusing to turn over these investigative notes and held the reporter involved in jail for 40 days, triggering a separate set of cases on the limits of shield laws in protecting journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
s from testifying about information they collected from their sources.
Early life and education
Trautwein was born in Paramus, New JerseyParamus, New Jersey
Paramus is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 26,342. A suburb of New York City, Paramus is located between 15–20 miles northwest of Midtown Manhattan and approximately west of Upper Manhattan.Paramus is one of...
on March 29, 1920, attended Hackensack High School
Hackensack High School
Hackensack High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Hackensack, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Hackensack Public Schools...
and earned a baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
scholarship at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. He was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
as a pitcher, but needed to work to help support his family and got a job as a stevedore
Stevedore
Stevedore, dockworker, docker, dock labourer, wharfie and longshoreman can have various waterfront-related meanings concerning loading and unloading ships, according to place and country....
. After attending the United States Merchant Marine Academy
United States Merchant Marine Academy
The United States Merchant Marine Academy is one of the five United States Service academies...
, he served in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Following the completion of his military service, he attended New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
and earned his law degree from the New York University School of Law
New York University School of Law
The New York University School of Law is the law school of New York University. Established in 1835, the school offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in law, and is located in Greenwich Village, in the New York City borough of Manhattan....
, passing the bar in 1953.
Judicial Career
As a County CourtCounty Court
A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of county courts held by the High Sheriff of each county.-England and Wales:County Court matters can be lodged...
judge starting in 1964, and later as a District Court judge, Trautwein issued rulings that supported creation of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission
New Jersey Meadowlands Commission
The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission is a regional zoning, planning and regulatory agency established by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature in 1969...
to provide state oversight of development in the New Jersey Meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for the large ecosystem of wetlands in northeast New Jersey in the United States. The Meadowlands are known for being the site of large landfills and decades of...
and of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority
New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority
The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority is an independent authority established by the State of New Jersey in 1971 to oversee the Meadowlands Sports Complex. Originally consisting of Giants Stadium and the Meadowlands Racetrack in 1976, Brendan Byrne Arena was added to the complex in...
, which brought horse racing and professional sports to the Meadowlands.
He was named as a New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division
New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division
The New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division is the appellate court in New Jersey.The Appellate Division hears appeals from the Law and Chancery Divisions of the New Jersey Superior Court, the Tax Court, and final decisions of State administrative agencies...
judge in 1981.
Dr. X. trial and shield laws
In 1978, the "Dr. X" murder trial of Mario JascalevichMario Jascalevich
The "Dr. X" killings were a series of suspicious deaths, by curare poisoning, in 1966 at a Bergen County, New Jersey hospital. A newspaper investigation during the mid-1960s led to the indictment of an Argentina-born physician, Mario Enrique Jascalevich , in 1976...
, a physician who had been charged with murdering three of his patients at an Oradell, New Jersey
Oradell, New Jersey
Oradell is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. At the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 7,978. The borough's territory includes a dam on the Hackensack River that forms the Oradell Reservoir...
hospital with curare
Curare
Curare is a common name for various arrow poisons originating from South America. The three main types of curare are:* tubocurare...
was brought to trial. The cases had occurred in the mid-1960s and the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office had declined to pursue the cases at the time. In 1976, reporter M. A. Farber
M. A. Farber
Myron A. Farber is an American newspaper reporter for The New York Times, whose investigations into the deaths of several patients at an Oradell, New Jersey hospital led to the murder trial of Dr. Mario Jascalevich, a physician at the hospital who was alleged to have used a powerful muscle...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote a series of articles that exposed the cases, with the public attention and outcry leading the Bergen County Prosecutor to reopen the cases, exhume and test the bodies for curare, and file charges against Dr. Jascalevich after the muscle relaxant was found by chemical analysis.
Attorney Raymond A. Brown
Raymond A. Brown
Raymond A. Brown was an American criminal defense lawyer who represented a wide variety of high-profile clients, ranging from politicians to accused spies, including New Jersey state senator Angelo Errichetti , boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and "Dr...
blamed other doctors at the hospital of framing Jascalevich to cover up their own ineptitude and charged that Farber had conspired with prosecutors to advance their respective careers by pointing the finger of blame at Jascalevich. After Brown subpoenaed the reporter,
Farber testified in the case but cited the First Amendment of the United States Constitution when he refused to turn over thousands of pages of the reporter's notes that the defense had requested, citing a compelling right to protect the identity of the sources used in the articles from individuals who had spoken to him with the expectation that their confidence would be maintained. Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine called the deadlock "a head-on collision between the First and Sixth Amendments", citing the conflict between the reporter's and newspaper's right of Freedom of the Press
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
and the defendant's Right to a fair trial
Right to a fair trial
The right to fair trial is an essential right in all countries respecting the rule of law. A trial in these countries that is deemed unfair will typically be restarted, or its verdict voided....
. Trial judge William J. Arnold had Judge Trautwein address the issues related to the release of the papers in his role as an assignment judge for all Bergen County courts. In July 1978, Trautwein sentenced Farber to six months in jail and assessed fines of $5,000 each day to The Times, saying that Farber had chosen placing "your privilege and your concept of your constitutional rights above the rights of the people of this state and this defendant"
With several breaks for appeals, Farber ended up spending a total 40 days in the Bergen County Jail and was not released until October 24 after Jascalevich was acquitted. The New Jersey Supreme Court
New Jersey Supreme Court
The New Jersey Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It has existed in three different forms under the three different state constitutions since the independence of the state in 1776...
upheld Trautwein's decision and stripped reports of shield law protections, though the New Jersey Legislature
New Jersey Legislature
The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the Senate...
responded by passing even stronger shield laws to protect reporters. Governor of New Jersey
Governor of New Jersey
The Office of the Governor of New Jersey is the executive branch for the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of Governor is an elected position, for which elected officials serve four year terms. While individual politicians may serve as many terms as they can be elected to, Governors cannot be...
Brendan Byrne
Brendan Byrne
Brendan Thomas Byrne is an American Democratic Party politician from New Jersey, who served as the 47th Governor of New Jersey, from 1974 to 1982.-Early life and education:...
pardoned Farber in 1982 and $100,000 of the fines were reimbursed to the newspaper.
Trautwein's actions in regard to Farber have been used as a case study
Case study
A case study is an intensive analysis of an individual unit stressing developmental factors in relation to context. The case study is common in social sciences and life sciences. Case studies may be descriptive or explanatory. The latter type is used to explore causation in order to find...
in both law schools and schools of journalism. Jane E. Kirtley of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is an American nonprofit organization, founded in 1970, that provides free legal assistance to and on behalf of journalists. A number of prominent journalists presently sit on the organization's steering committee, including Dan Rather, and Judy...
cited how "Farber's case roused journalists out of their complacency", noting that "Going to jail for more than a month is significant in anyone's eyes."
Trantino parole
Thomas TrantinoThomas Trantino
Thomas Trantino is an American convicted murderer who was sentenced to life in prison for the execution style shooting deaths in 1963 of two police officers in Lodi, New Jersey. He was sentenced to death by electrocution, which was commuted to life in prison after the death penalty was abolished...
had been sentenced to life in prison for the shooting deaths in 1963 of two police officers in Lodi, New Jersey
Lodi, New Jersey
Lodi is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 24,136. The borough of Lodi is governed under the 1923 Municipal Manager Law.Lodi owes its name to the Italian city of Lodi...
. The New Jersey State Parole Board
New Jersey State Parole Board
The New Jersey State Parole Board is a governmental body in the U.S. State of New Jersey that is responsible for assisting offenders to reenter society as law-abiding residents....
was willing to release him once arrangements were made for making restitution to the survivors and in 1980 assigned Trautwein responsibility for setting the amounts. Trautwein refused to do so, saying, "It would be a gruesome, illogical, self-evident act of futility to order the restoration of the victims' lives." Without the restitution arrangements, Trantino's parole had been rejected and he remained in jail beyond Trautwein's death. He was finally released in 2002, after spending 38 years in jail.
Death
A resident of Hollywood, FloridaHollywood, Florida
-Demographics:As of 2000, there were 59,673 households out of which 24.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.5% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.2% were non-families. 34.4% of all households were made up of...
for the two years before his death, Trautwein died there at age 80 on August 19, 2000, of Heart failure. He was survived by his wife, Lorna, a daughter, a son and four grandchildren.