Ohio Judge Bars Press Coverage of Jury Selection in Murder Trial

Image by Padraic. via Flickr

Henry County (Ohio) Judge Keith P. Muehlfeld has restricted press coverage in the involuntary manslaughter case of 13-month-old Kamryn Gerkin the same week that the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the defendant's conviction in a Georgia drug trial because the public was excluded from the courtroom during the jury selection process.

Judge Muehlfeld has left the door to his courtroom unlocked, but has banned the press from reporting on the trials of the toddler's mother Jayme Schwenkmeyer and her boyfriend David Knepley until the jury is seated. Judge Muehlfeld also issued a gag order against attorneys and witnesses preventing them from speaking to the news media pre-jury selection.  An autopsy performed on the toddler allegedly revealed the presence of multiple toxic drugs, including oxycodone.

Judge Muehlfeld's well-intentioned, but ham-fisted, attempt to prevent the jury pool from becoming tainted by prejudicial pretrial publicity is particularly egregious in that it occurred the same week in which the High Court held in a 7-2 decision in Presley v. Georgia (Case No. 09-5270) that jury selection in criminal trials is presumptively open under the First and Sixth Amendments to the Constitution.

In Richmond Newspapers  v. Virginia, 448 U.S. 555 (1980), Justice Warren Burger wrote the majority opinion holding that the First Amendment guarantees all citizens the right to attend criminal trials. "TUOL" prescribes a daily constitutional for Judge Muehlfeld consisting of a brisk walk to the law library where he can re-read the Bill of Rights.