THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 24, 1996 TAG: 9602240349
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOSTON GLOBE
DATELINE: DEDHAM, MASS. LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
Lawyers for John C. Salvi III asked the state Supreme Judicial Court on Friday to lift a gag order imposed by Superior Court Judge Barbara Dortch-Okara, arguing that the prosecution is being helped by statements from abortion-rights advocates not bound by the order.
In a motion filed with the court, Salvi's lawyers argued that statements by officials of Planned Parenthood - one of the clinics Salvi attacked - ``have repeatedly asserted that the defendant was criminally responsible, acting with cold calculation.''
Salvi's lawyers also pointed to an op-ed piece in the Boston Globe on Feb. 15 - the day after the gag order was imposed - in which Planned Parenthood president Nicki Nichols Gamble wrote that she ``fervently hopes'' Salvi will be found ``unequivocally guilty.''
Gamble had planned to hold a press conference at Planned Parenthood on the day the jury toured the facility but canceled it at the request of the judge and the prosecutor.
The motion, which was supported by the Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, contends that ``occasionally a public statement, far from impeding the fairness of a trial, is sometimes necessary to preserve it.''
On Feb. 14 Dortch-Okara issued an order barring the prosecutor in the case, Norfolk County First Assistant District Attorney John Kivlan, and defense lawyers J.W. Carney Jr. and Janice Bassil, from speaking publicly about the case except for a few narrowly defined topics.
Because the case has attracted ``extensive and pervasive national and local media publicity,'' Dortch-Okara said, the gag order was ``the only practical and effective action this court can take to ensure the defendant's right to a fair trial.''
KEYWORDS: TRIAL by CNB