Constitutional Law

News outlets challenge media restrictions in N.C. trial

By By The Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. — Media organizations challenged a judge?s decision to restrict coverage of a Cary man?s murder trial, arguing yesterday that rules such as prohibiting interviews outside the local courthouse infringe on the public?s right to access judicial proceedings.

Attorneys representing the Associated Press and other news media filed a motion in the case of Brad Cooper. Superior Court Judge Paul Gessner has taken the unusual step of prohibiting the news media from reporting or showing the identities of an FBI agent and a Durham police officer.

Gessner is also barring news media from doing interviews or recording near the Wake County Courthouse.

Other news organizations involved the court motion include the News & Observer Publishing Company, Capitol Broadcasting Company Inc., WTVD Television LLC and Media General Operations Inc.

Cooper is charged in the 2008 death of his wife, Nancy Cooper, whose body was found near a storm drain in an unfinished subdivision of the Raleigh suburb. He has pleaded not guilty and previously told authorities that his wife went for a jog and never returned.

Jury selection in the case began yesterday.

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on February 28, 2011 (boomark / email).