Judge in Jim Bell trial says media may not quote public documents
Declan McCullagh
declan at well.com
Fri Apr 6 09:11:33 PDT 2001
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,42894,00.html
Cypherpunk Judge Warns Media
by Declan McCullagh (declan at wired.com)
8:00 a.m. Apr. 6, 2001 PDT
TACOMA, Washington -- A federal judge has threatened media outlets
with contempt charges if they quote from public documents on a court
website, prompting outcries from journalist groups.
U.S. District Judge Jack Tanner warned Thursday that anyone who
published the name of a juror in the criminal trial of U.S. v. James
Dalton Bell would go to jail. The list of jurors is available on the
Pacer website provided by the federal court system.
"No one in the print media, electronic media, no member of the
prosecution, no witness for the prosecution, nor the defense lawyers,
are to print, under any circumstances, the names of these jurors...
under penalty of contempt," Tanner said.
Gregg Leslie, the legal defense director for the Virginia-based
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said: "The sweeping
nature of such an order is not just unconstitutional, but truly
outrageous. Its absurdity is compounded by the fact that it presumes
toreach parties not subject to the court's jurisdiction."
"Unfortunately, many judges seem to think that the old,
well-established standards barring prior restraints on publication of
truthful, lawfully obtained information don't apply to electronic
records or other court information," Leslie said. "They do."
Tanner is an unpredictable 82-year old jurist known to use his
contempt powers broadly.
In a prior trial involving Bell's defense lawyer, Robert Leen, Tanner
briefly held Leen in contempt after his client's son acted up in
court.
Tanner also sealed the entire case file, including traditionally
public documents such as the charges against the defendant, until the
jury reaches a verdict. The trial is expected to conclude Friday or
Monday.
[...]
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