Overview
- The defense filed a court letter on Friday, July 31, asking a judge to require disclosure of who picked permitted reporters, demand a public hearing, and order the state trial to be livestreamed.
- Defense lawyers say a July 16 Office of Court Administration directive bars overflow rooms, limits the on-site press pool to about 68 journalists, and allows only six reporters to cover jury selection.
- The filing alleges OCA effectively delegated selection of the 68 reporters to a single private attorney at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, raising concerns that the court or prosecutor could hand-pick which outlets may attend.
- The state murder trial is set to begin in September, with a separate federal trial postponed to January, and no judge has yet ruled on the defense’s challenge to the media rules.
- If the court upholds broad restrictions without specific findings, the dispute could force a legal test of how New York balances public-trial rights under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments against courtroom management needs.