Gag orders

An Illinois judge has blocked a high-profile murder defendant from contacting anyone not on a pre-approved list of relatives and friends, and told all attorneys in the case to notify him before issuing press releases and holding news interviews, in a bid to deflect the media glare in the case.

A federal judge in Denver has denied without public comment a request for a broad restraining order aimed at The Pueblo Chieftain and reporter Robert Boczkiewicz. The order would have prohibited any news organization from publishing information obtained from a court hearing in a lawsuit related to the alleged sexual abuse of high school students.

A $7,500 fine levied against a political activist in Kansas for speaking about an ethics complaint he filed was reversed last week after the state attorney general said gag orders in such cases were unconstitutional, The Topeka Capital-Journal reports.

A Tennessee judge has refused to order local news outlets to bar public comments on articles related to a murder case published on their Web sites.

In a preliminary hearing Monday for a former teacher charged with sexually abusing his son, California Judge Bridgid McCann told Victorville Daily Press reporter Patrick Thatcher not to publish the last name of the alleged victim, who had testified in open court, the newspaper reports. Several First Amendment experts are questioning the legality of the judge's move.

A tribal court in Michigan has issued an injunction ordering a journalist not to report on issues related to “blood quantum” and qualifications for tribal enrollment.  

The judge overseeing the sexual abuse trial against U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent has lifted a gag order in the case that had been challenged by journalists in an emergency motion, the Houston Chronicle reports.  

 The judge presiding over the prosecution of U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent has declined to vacate a gag order even though Kent has pleaded guilty, the Houston Chronicle reports.  

Kent was indicted in August on charges of abusive sexual contact and attempted aggravated sexual abuse. He is the first federal judge to be indicted for federal sex crimes, though he pleaded guilty only to obstruction of justice.  

The lawyer for a California dentist on trial for allegedly fondling more than a dozen patients conceded this week that his request to totally exclude press and public from the trial was "not legally sustainable," The Sacramento Bee reports.

A California dentist on trial for allegedly fondling more than a dozen patients has moved to exclude the press from the entirety of his trial, the Sacramento Bee reports.

Michael Rothschild, attorney for defendant Mark Anderson, filed a one-sentence motion asking the court to “exclude all media from all trial proceedings, including but not limited to jury selection, opening statement and witness testimony, in this matter.”