News media seeking cameras in Kansas murder trial

By The Associated Press

08.31.02

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TOPEKA, Kan. — Attorneys for news organizations are asking a judge to reconsider his ban of cameras in his Johnson County courtroom during the trial of accused serial killer John E. Robinson Sr.

A motion filed Aug. 29 requests that District Judge John Anderson III reverse his Aug. 23 order prohibiting the use of video or still cameras during the trial, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 16.

The reversal is sought by The Kansas City Star and television stations WDAF, KCTV and KSHB. A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 5 in district court in Olathe.

Robinson, 58, is charged in Johnson County in the deaths of three women: Suzette Trouten and Izabela Lewicka, whose bodies were found in barrels on land he owned in Linn County, and Lisa Stasi, who disappeared in 1985.

Robinson also faces three counts of capital murder in Cass County, Mo., where the bodies of two women and a girl were found in barrels in a storage locker he had rented.

During a March 28 hearing, Anderson placed the ban on cameras and other recording devices. He continued that prohibition for the trial in an order issued Aug. 23.

"Since that time, the court has observed that the process has operated more smoothly and more efficiently without the distraction of the cameras," Anderson wrote.

Bernard Rhodes, attorney for the news organizations, countered in his motion that Anderson's order squeezes the right of the public's access to the trial.

"For a state — and a county — long considered on the cutting edge of First Amendment jurisprudence, this court's apparent decision to place efficiency over access is quite troubling," Rhodes wrote.

Rhodes cited a 1984 Ohio case where that state's Court of Appeals ruled, "If the print media, with its pens, pencils and not pads, have a right to access to a criminal trial, then the electronic media, with its cameras, must be given equal access, too.

"Interveners respectfully submit that this court's decision to strive for smoothness, at the expense of openness, is an abuse of discretion," Rhodes wrote.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Sept. 16, with the trial lasting four to six weeks. Anderson issued a ruling on Aug. 28 that jurors would be sequestered for the duration of the trial.

Update

Kansas high court: Jury selection in serial murder trial should be open
Justices overturn lower court ruling barring public, news media from proceedings; meanwhile, ban on cameras in courtroom remains intact.  09.13.02

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