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Friday, August 08, 2008
Courts - "Judge declares mistrial, blames newspaper"
From a report by KSN.com that begins:
SALINA, KS, August 7, 2008 -- A judge declared a mistrial Thursday in the Saline County rape case of Jerry Sellers and blamed the local newspaper.Here is a report from the newspaper itself, the Salina Kansas Journal.On page A5 of the Salina Journal, the reporter reveals Sellers was sentenced on Monday in Harvey county to 11 years in prison for fondling a 13-year-old girl there.
The judge in the Saline County case said that information could taint the jury.
The defense attorney asked for a mistrial and the prosecution didn't object. Neither would go on camera, saying they didn't want to contribute to any more trial publicity.
The county attorney, however, said she just wished the paper would have been more responsible in their reporting. She says if they would have held the story just one more day, the trial would have continued.
"Our job is to report the news and our responsibility is to our readers and our responsibility is not to sit there and restrain ourselves thinking what the court might want, what the court might do,” said Ben Wearing copy editor for the Salina Journal. “If we had to do it all over again, we would do it all over again."
Wearing says in his 30 years as a journalist he's never heard of a newspaper article leading to a mistrial.
Journalists routinely report on all aspects of a case and jurors are told to stay away from all media relating to the trial.
[Thanks to the Poynteronline column, Romenesko, for the link.]
Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 8, 2008 01:08 PM
Posted to Courts in general