A Yolo County dentist, on trial on charges of sexual battery with his patients, has dropped his attempt to exclude the press from the courtroom. The dentist’s lawyer, Michael Rothschild, says he was persuaded the requested closure would violate the First Amendment.
An interesting aspect of this case is that the prosecutor, siding with a media lawyer representing the Sacramento Bee, opposed the court-closing idea. All too often prosecutors, concerned about avoiding jury prejudice, acquiesce in or even support, defense lawyers’ requests to exclude the press and public from criminal trials.-PS
Woodland dentist drops effort to bar media from trial
Sacramento Bee
Published Tuesday, Jan. 06, 2009
A Woodland dentist abandoned his request Monday to exclude the media from his trial on charges of sexual battery against female patients.
Mark Anderson, 49, is expected to face a jury later this month in Yolo Superior Court.
His lawyer, Michael Rothschild, said at Monday’s hearing that a lawyer for The Bee, Charity Kenyon, had convinced him the request was “far too broad and not legally sustainable.”
But Rothschild asked Judge Stephen Mock whether he might limit the number of reporters so jurors would not be tainted by news coverage.
Rothschild had submitted a stack of newspaper stories and television transcripts to show what he called the “onslaught” of media coverage since Anderson was arrested in September 2007.
The case, he said, had even made headlines in India.
“I get hate mail from Bombay,” he told the judge.
Deputy District Attorney Robert Gorman said the public has a right to know what happens in court.
“The way the public does that is through the media,” he said. “This is exactly what the Constitution is all about.”
Mock said extraordinary restrictions on media coverage weren’t needed.
“There’s not going to be a circus in this case,” he said.
The judge said jury questionnaires would help screen out biased jurors, and he would instruct prospective jurors to avoid news about the case.
Anderson was indicted on 20 felony counts and one misdemeanor count of sexual battery for allegedly touching the breasts of 14 female patients.
His first arraignment in October 2007 was continued. Rothschild emerged from a closed court building and told reporters waiting for the court building’s doors to open that what should have been a public hearing was over.
Rothschild told Mock that a Bee editorial Monday had suggested he and a court commissioner had conspired to exclude the media.
“There’s no conspiracy going on,” he said.
Speaking for The Bee, Kenyon said access to basic information in the case had been hampered by a gag order, sought by Rothschild. The gag order is “so broad that Mr. Rothschild can’t set the record straight,” she told the judge.