Court strikes down Fla. rape names law p. 31

By: Editorial Staff

FLORIDA'S BAN ON press disclosure of rape victims' names has been overturned as unconstitutional.
Ruling in a case stemming from the William Kennedy Smith rape trial, the Florida Supreme Court said the law is too sweeping because it fails to distinguish between circumstances and too narrow because it applies only to the media.
The decision, written by Justice Gerald Kogan, upholds an appeals court ruling last year that cleared the supermarket tabloid Globe of violating the law by identifying Patricia Bowman early in the case as Smith's accuser.
The appeals court said the state can try to keep a rape victim from being identified but cannot penalize the media for disseminating the truth.
Smith, a nephew of Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, was acquitted in a highly publicized 1991 trial. Bowman later agreed to have her name reported.