A judge took the unusual and possibly unconstitutional step of barring a Los Angeles Times photographer from publishing images she allowed him to snap at a hearing for a man charged with murdering a Hollywood family.
News
August 5, 2010
By The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES— Lawyers for the Times planned to ask the judge to reconsider the order, which a press group argued amounted to prior restraint that violates the First Amendment right to a free press.Superior Court Judge Hilleri G. Merritt had granted a written request from photographer Al Seib before Wednesday’s hearing. But after a defense lawyer objected during the hearing, she ordered him to stop taking pictures and not to use any he already had snapped.
There was no legal reason for Merritt to ban publication, said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
The order came during a hearing for Alberd Tersargyan, 60, who pleaded not guilty earlier this year to killing a Hollywood woman. Authorities say he was infatuated with her, but she rebuffed his advances.
He was scheduled for arraignment Wednesday on additional charges of killing the woman’s husband and 8-year-old daughter in 2008 along with a prostitute. However, that arraignment was postponed to Aug. 13.
The Times photographer was snapping photos when Deputy Public Defender Patricia Mulligan reminded Merritt that another judge previously barred photography and video.
Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Eric Harmon didn’t object to the photographs.
Merritt criticized the lawyers for failing to raise the issue earlier.
“The record clearly reflects concerns expressed by Judge Merritt in the balance between a fair trial and free press issues,” Superior Court spokesman Allan Parachini said.