A Los Angeles federal judge took the highly unusual step of closing a two-day trial this week in a case involving the 2005 prison killing of Jewish Defense League activist Earl Krugel.
Constitutional scholars and press-freedom advocates deemed the broad secrecy accorded the trial by U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson perplexing -- and a likely violation of the 1st Amendment.
Wilson issued a protective order covering U.S. Bureau of Prisons policies and practices in evaluating inmates for gang affiliation and potential to harm others. In deference to the order, Wilson banished media and spectators from the courtroom Tuesday and Wednesday, from the swearing in of the first witness through closing arguments. His ruling late Thursday was filed under seal.
"This is outrageous. This is not Russia, North Korea or Iran. This is the United States," said Benjamin Schonbrun, attorney for Krugel's widow, Lola, who was seeking damages for the wrongful death of her husband at the hands of a known white supremacist.
Wilson ruled for the government, "to the plaintiff's immense disappointment," said Schonbrun, adding that he assumed the judge's assertion that the ruling was secret applied only to the justification, not which side won. He said he planned to appeal, pointing to the unorthodox handling of the case.
Constitutional lawyers expressed shock and condemnation of the court's closure.
"Astonishing. I've never heard of such a thing in federal court," said Lee Levine, a veteran 1st Amendment lawyer in Washington, D.C., who has represented The Times in past cases of government assertions of secrecy privilege in national security matters. "There have been circumstances in which limited, targeted closing has been ordered because of specific sensitive or classified information or trade secrets. But the notion of closing an entire trial in a federal court is astounding."
The non-jury trial Wilson conducted involved the Nov. 4, 2005, murder of Krugel at the Federal Correctional Institution in Phoenix. Three days after Krugel's arrival, David Frank Jennings, a tattooed racist housed in the general population of the medium-security facility, used a paving stone from the prison recreation yard to bludgeon Krugel to death with five blows to the head.
