Casey Anthony: Is the coverage unprecedented? Judge says it is - Hal

Casey Anthony: Is the coverage unprecedented? Judge says it is
posted by halboedeker on May, 2 2011 1:05 PM

Chief Judge Belvin Perry Jr. says “unprecedented” in a way you won’t forget.

He decided today, over some media companies’ objections, that the public won’t know where jury selection in the Casey Anthony will be set before that process begins a week from today.

In what will be an oft-repeated clip, Perry said, “Given the effect that this news coverage of this case has been unprecedented in the history of Florida — maybe even dwarfs the coverage that was given to O.J. Simpson – that this court feels the effect of pretrial publicity, if allowed to start in another location prior to jury selection, will so taint the minds of jurors that this court must take this strong, limited measure of balancing the right to know.”

It was big news on noon newscasts. WKMG-Channel 6’s Tony Pipitone said that Perry “ended up saying that Casey Anthony’s right to a fair trial means the public should not know where jury selection is.”

The media that agree to Perry’s confidentiality agreement about the jury selection site will be given 12 hours’ notice but they cannot report that information until jurors come into the courtroom at 8 a.m. next Monday, Pipitone explained.

“He [Perry] shot down an organization of several media groups challenging that confidentiality agreement,” WESH-Channel 2’s Bob Kealing reported. If they appeal, Perry cautioned that it might delay the trial’s start, Kealing added.

On Central Florida News 13, Adam Longo noted that previously Perry had said that today — May 2 – he would tell one person from the state and one from the defense where jury selection will be. “We do not know for certain if he did that, but if so, lawyers will have until Wednesday to raise any objections,” Longo said. “Judge Perry wants the jury to come from somewhere outside Central Florida because of all the pretrial publicity.”

Then Longo cut to footage of Perry talking about receiving 700 requests for media credentials and the expectation that there will be protesters. Longo also reported that 20 minutes of today’s hearing happened behind closed doors, and Perry ordered that information sealed.

Pipitone highlighted that Anthony “teared up and wiped her eyes” over the “largely unemotional legal argument on public access to jury selection.” Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter, Caylee.

Kealing’s take: “At one point Casey Anthony wept openly listening to the description of the hostility that still exists toward her here in Orange County.”

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2011/05/casey-anthony-is-the-coverage-unprecedented-judge-says-it-is.html