Gag Order

Re a gag order on the next Simpson trial: What a relief! KRISTINE VAN OLST Oak View

A federal judge in San Francisco has ordered the FBI to stop issuing "national security letters" to phone companies and Internet service providers, denying the bureau an investigative tool it has used with alarming frequency to secretly gather logs of Americans' calls, emails and related activity. It was the second time a federal court found a key aspect of such letters - the gag order that almost invariably accompanies them - to be unconstitutional. Congress should swiftly change the law to bring more oversight to the process and narrow the letters' use. Congress created the letters in the 1980s to help the FBI track communications by foreign agents in the United States without a court's prior approval or oversight, but over time lawmakers broadened the letters' use and reach.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. -- Most of the details of the case against James E. Holmes, the man accused of the midnight movie shooting that left 12 dead and 58 injured, will remain sealed to the public, a judge ruled Monday. Saying that Holmes' right to a fair trial outweighed the media's quest to release more details and shed light on the proceeding, District Judge William Sylvester left intact much of the gag order for those connected to the case and kept most of the police and court documents sealed, including arrest and search warrants.

Jury selection began Tuesday in preparation for the capital murder trial of  the so-called Craigslist killer, who allegedly lured his suspects to rural Ohio in 2011 with fake farm-job offers. The world found out about Richard Beasley, a 53-year-old, self-styled street preacher, after one of his alleged victims, Scott Davis, managed to escape and call the police.  During the trial last fall of Beasley's suspected co-conspirator -- a teenager who had considered Beasley his mentor -- Davis testified that he responded to a Craigslist ad to do work in southern Ohio in the fall of 2011.  In testimony posted online by a Cleveland news station, Davis said that after walking out to a wooded area with Beasley, he heard a cuss word and then the cocking of a gun. “I knew I was in trouble,” Davis said, adding that although he got shot in the arm, the gun jammed and he was able to escape.

An Orange County judge issued a gag order Friday in the misdemeanor criminal trial of 11 college students accused of disrupting a speech by the Israeli ambassador to the United States. Superior Court Judge Peter J. Wilson said he did not want potential jurors to have preconceived ideas about the case involving the so-called Irvine 11. His order applies to both the prosecution and to the defense. Defense attorneys filed a motion on May 3 that aimed to silence prosecutors, claiming that Orange County Deputy Dist.

The judge in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case has loosened a sweeping gag order after objections from prosecutors, news organizations and the accuser's attorneys. The new order, which was made public Wednesday, permits comments to reporters in some circumstances but still prohibits talking about the character and credibility of the accuser, Bryant or any witness. Also prohibited are comments about expected testimony, the possibility of a plea agreement, and Bryant's guilt or innocence.

A rapper under house arrest can promote his new CD and novel but cannot talk about the second-degree murder charge against him, a Louisiana judge has ruled. Corey Miller, 35, has been ordered to stay at his grandmother's Kenner, La., home until his new trial in the Jan. 12, 2002, death of a 16-year-old boy who was shot in the chest during a brawl at a now-closed club in Harvey. No trial date has been set.

A federal prosecutor has accused Richard T. Silberman of violating a gag order barring participants in his money-laundering case from making characterizations about witnesses. Assistant U.S. Atty. Charles F. Gorder Jr. said Wednesday that Silberman should be punished for the alleged infraction.

As baseball players and management finally got around to talking about revenue sharing Friday, baseball Commissioner Bud Selig reversed course and told owners to stop making public statements about labor matters. Negotiators, joined by eight players from the Boston Red Sox, had what both sides called a productive session, and agreed that they were not that far apart on the amount of money they want to divide unequally among clubs from baseball's national broadcasting and licensing contracts.

The man accused of kidnapping and killing Polly Klaas made his first appearance Monday in San Jose, where his trial was ordered moved. A judge confirmed a Feb. 5 trial date for Richard Allen Davis, who could face the death penalty if convicted. Superior Court Judge Jack Komar also kept in place a gag order he issued earlier this month. Komar said there was a "reasonable likelihood" that the spread of information about the case from outside the courtroom "would interfere with fair-trial rights .

JERUSALEM - The full story may never be known of why a baby-faced Australian Israeli attorney came under suspicion of working for the Mossad spy agency and then died alone in an Israeli jail cell charged with betraying the country he had adopted. But as the political drama over Ben Zygier's 2010 arrest and death swept through Israel on Thursday, it left virtually no institution unscathed. Mossad was scrambling to contain possible damage to its operations in Iran and other places where Zygier is believed to have traveled using his Australian passport.

James E. Holmes, charged in the Colorado movie theater shooting that roiled the nation in July, is due in court on Monday for a hearing to discuss a variety of issues including whether the prosecution violated a gag order. Holmes, 24, faces 166 charges in the attack that killed 12 and wounded at least 58 during the premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises” just past midnight in a packed Aurora theater. He is being held without bond. Monday's hearing was supposed to have taken place on Nov. 15, but was put off when his lawyers told the court that Holmes could not attend.

Earlier this week, angered by a question about the return of an injured player, Lane Kiffin stormed out of a daily news conference after less than 30 seconds. I don't need that long to give him some advice. Chill out, dude. Stop sweating the small stuff. End these weekly tiffs with the media. Worry less about hiding injuries and more about hitting linebackers. You are distracting your team and clouding your mission. I called Kiffin Thursday about this growing mess, and, give him credit, he acknowledged his part in it. He admitted he was wrong to walk out of the news conference.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. -- Most of the details of the case against James E. Holmes, the man accused of the midnight movie shooting that left 12 dead and 58 injured, will remain sealed to the public, a judge ruled Monday. Saying that Holmes' right to a fair trial outweighed the media's quest to release more details and shed light on the proceeding, District Judge William Sylvester left intact much of the gag order for those connected to the case and kept most of the police and court documents sealed, including arrest and search warrants.

DENVER -- James Egan Holmes, the man accused of killing 12 people and injuring 58 others at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater on July 20, is expected to be in court Thursday in a hearing to unseal more details about the case. Twenty news media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, have joined in a motion to ease a strict gag order imposed on the case by District Court Judge William Sylvester. That order bans anyone connected with the case from discussing it, including those at the University of Colorado.

AURORA, Colo. - Theater shooting victims and their loved ones marched through the rituals of mourning and recovery here Thursday, with funerals for two of the 12 dead, a vigil, and fundraising to help pay for medical care and burials. The Aurora Victim Relief Fund, set up by Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper and the Denver-based Community First Foundation, has received more than $2 million in donations since a gunman sprayed a crowded movie theater with bullets last week. At least five of the 58 injured remain in critical condition.

The sweeping gag order proposed by Superior Court Judge Lance A. Ito to stop leaks in the O.J. Simpson murder case is unusual--although not unprecedented--and legal experts say it could be struck down if challenged on the grounds that it violates the 1st Amendment. In his proposal, which will be debated in court Wednesday, Ito bars anyone connected with the case from discussing documents, exhibits or evidence and mandates that all motions be filed under seal.

AURORA, Colo. - Kaitlyn Fonzi, 20, had her hand on the doorknob of her upstairs neighbor's booby-trapped apartment here early last Friday, ready to complain about his blaring music. She had no idea how close she was to becoming one of the casualties in a massacre that left 12 dead and 58 injured. On Wednesday, Fonzi returned to the three-story brick apartment building with her boyfriend, Chris Rodriguez, 30, to see when they could come back. Many others in town were wondering the same thing - not only about the apartment building, but about the Century 16 theater, where police say James E. Holmes attacked moviegoers during the post-midnight premiere of the latest Batman installment,"The Dark Knight Rises.

Orange County's chief executive officer could be terminated in response to allegations that a former county administrator sexually harassed at least seven women over the span of eight years on and around government property. In a memo Thursday , Board of Supervisors Chairman John Moorlach requested a special closed session on Friday to discuss the possible discipline or termination of Tom Mauk and the appointment of an interim county executive officer. The move comes after Carlos Bustamante, a Santa Ana city councilman and former administrator in the county public works department, was charged this week with 12 felonies, including stalking, attempted sexual battery by restraint and six counts of false imprisonment.