Attorneys in Sean Taylor Case are Silenced
Judge rules in favor of defendants' rights
Pat Gillespie • pgillespie@news-press.com • January 9, 2008
MIAMI — A Miami-Dade circuit judge issued a gag order Tuesday, ruling attorneys and officials in the Sean Taylor killing can no longer discuss the case with the media.
Circuit Judge Dennis Murphy also ruled, after more than an hour of arguments, the state attorney can remove some material from the case before making it public.
His decisions, he said, were made with the rights of the defendants in mind.
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Eric Rivera, Charles Wardlow, Venjah Hunte and Jason Scott Mitchell, all of Lee County, are charged with first-degree murder and armed burglary in the death of Taylor, a Washington Redskins safety. Taylor was shot Nov. 26 in his Miami home during a botched robbery and he died the next day.
"Based upon the pre-trial publicity, there is a substantial likelihood that pre-trial publicity without constraint will interfere with a fair trial," Murphy said.
Attorneys representing The Miami Herald, CNN, an ABC affiliate television station in Miami, The Washington Post and Newsweek magazine argued Florida Bar rules of professional conduct should govern what attorneys say, not a judge's order.
But Murphy said this case, in which four people are accused of killing a professional athlete, is different than most.
"I've got four people charged with first-degree murder," he said. "I've got contempt orders that have a much more immediate effect."
Assistant State Attorney Reid Rubin said he didn't yet know if the state would seek the death penalty.
Wardlow's attorney, David Brener, wrote in his motion for the gag order that co-counsel in the case have improperly discussed facts of the case with the media as well as their clients' roles and roles of their co-defendants.
He cited attorney Michael Hornung, who after the Dec. 12 arraignment in the case, spoke with media after Murphy advised attorneys not to, Brener said.
"Apparently, that message didn't get across," Brener told Murphy.
Prosecutors and Brener said they agreed with the gag order. Hornung wasn't at the hearing, but an attorney who stood in for him had no objection.