On Friday, October 26th, a Motion filed by the State will be heard in front of Judge Nelson. The State (Prosecution) is seeking a “Gag Order” prohibiting the Defense Counsel from speaking with the media, or publishing updates about the evidence or the case on their website, GZLegalCase.
The State had made a similar request in front of Judge Lester, prior to his removal from the case, and six months later, seeks to have the same request granted on a second pass. Judge Lester denied the first attempt by the State for the same motion.
The Motion is opposed not only by Defense Counsel, but also by media companies, who earn their bread and butter through ginning up interest and controversy in high-profile cases such as this. The most interesting summation of the opposition to the State’s request
came from the Motion filed by attorneys representing the Orlando Sentinel.
(Paragraph 8, page 3) Emphasis Mine.
…. “The State seeks to prohibit and extraordinary broad range of speech ~ virtually any substantive comment about this case ~ and argues that such a prohibition is necessary because it may be more difficult to find jurors who have not been influenced by media accounts. The State brings this motion less than six months than Judge Lester denied its original motion. It also comes after the State has held its own press conferences and provided interviews to the media and after a substantial amount of discovery ~ which is public record ~ has been released. In other words, having disclosed its side of the case, the State now wishes to halt any further discussion.”
Full text of Motion filed by the Orlando Sentinel Communications Company:
Motion%20to%20Intervene%20and%20Opposition%20to%20State%27s%202nd%20Motion%20for%20Gag%20Order.pdf
If the Orlando Sentinel can see right through Bernie De La Ronda’s ploy, I am pretty sure Judge Nelson can as well.
However …. who benefits “more” if Mark O’Mara and Don West are “Gagged” and forced to endure a media blackout? Who loses if the “Court of Public Opinion” turns against the
“ebidence” and “public relations campaign” sold to them in the early stages of this incident?
Hmmmm……
Full text of second supporting Motion in opposition to State’s request filed by a group of Media companies: (Interestingly, I did see both CBS and NBC as listed as parties to this Motion but did not see Matt Gutman’s ABC on the list of media companies opposing the request for a gag order)
Motion%20to%20Intervene%20and%20Opposition%20to%20State%27s%202nd%20Motion%20for%20Gag%20Order.pdf
UPDATE:
Attorney Jeralyn at her blog “Talk Left” has also weighed in on the Gag Order Request: “Zimmerman Gag Order Request: The Defense is not the problem”
…..”As I wrote here, the Martin family lawyers are clearly involved with the prosecution. They gathered evidence for the investigation of Zimmerman — such as Witness 8’s statements about her telephone calls with Trayvon Martin the night he was shot. The state relied on Witness 8’s statements for probable cause in its affidavit to charge Zimmerman with second degree murder.”