Legal News

Wilson closes JDL civil trial amid claims of First Amendment violations

By Richard Binder

U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson perplexed Constitutional scholars and advocates of freedom of the press when he closed the two-day trial in a case involving the 2005 prison killing of Jewish Defense League activist Earl Krugel.

Wilson issued a protective order covering U.S. Bureau of Prisons policies and practices in evaluating inmates for gang affiliation and potential to harm others. In deference to the order, Wilson banished media and spectators from the courtroom Tuesday and Wednesday, from the swearing in of the first witness through closing arguments.His ruling late Thursday was filed under seal.

The non-jury trial Wilson conducted involved the Nov. 4, 2005, murder of Krugel at the Federal Correctional Institution in Phoenix. Three days after Krugel's arrival, David Frank Jennings, a tattooed racist housed in the general population of the medium-security facility, used a paving stone from the prison recreation yard to bludgeon Krugel to death with five blows to the head.

Full story at LATimes.com.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on July 24, 2009 (boomark / email).