THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 2, 1996 TAG: 9602020439
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOSTON GLOBE
DATELINE: BOSTON LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
A state Supreme Court justice Thursday upheld the ban on television cameras in the courtroom when John C. Salvi III goes on trial Monday for a 1994 shooting spree at two Brookline, Mass., family planning clinics.
Justice Herbert P. Wilkins, in a five-page decision, said the unique circumstances of the Salvi case and the possibility that some of the witnesses would be intimidated by having their faces broadcast were sufficient reasons to bar cameras from the courtroom.
Wilkins, however, gave Superior Court Judge Barbara Dortch-Okara the opportunity to reconsider her ban at a later time. He also wrote that some of the reasons she gave for the ban were wrong as a matter of law, including her fear that jurors would lose their impartiality by watching commentators discussing the trial.
Salvi is charged with two counts of first degree murder and five counts of assault with intent to murder in the Dec. 30, 1994, attack on the clinics, where abortions were performed. Killed were Shannon Lowney, 25, of Arlington, and Lee Ann Nichols, 38, of Salem, N.H.
Salvi was captured in Norfolk, Va., the day after the slayings. He is accused of shooting at the Hillcrest Clinic. No one was hurt in that case.
In the Hillcrest shooting, Salvi was initially charged with shooting into an occupied building. However, that charge was set aside by prosecutors so Salvi could be returned to Massachusetts to stand trial on the murder charges. The Norfolk charges can be refiled later.
In Thursday's ruling, Wilkins wrote that Massachusetts judges also should not ban cameras on the basis of the electronic media coverage given to the O.J. Simpson murder trial.
``The circumstances of the (Simpson trial) should not be permitted to influence the operation of our Massachusetts'' (courts), Wilkins wrote. ``It would be instructive to record electronically how an able Massachusetts judge conducts a high publicity trial.''
Janine Petit, a Boston lawyer who represents WCVB-TV Channel 5 and New England Cable News, said TV stations are unlikely to ask the full state Supreme Court to open the Salvi trial to cameras. Petit and Steven Comen, another attorney for the stations, said Wilkins' ruling will probably help stations in future battles with judges. ILLUSTRATION: John C. Salvi III is charged with two counts of first-degree
murder and five counts of assault.
KEYWORDS: ABORTION CLINIC SHOOTINGS MURDER TRIAL by CNB