Intellectual Property Law

Judge Gags Lawyers in Hans Reiser Murder Trial

By Ryan Singel, Kevin Poulsen, Sarah Lai Stirland, Kim Zetter, and David Kravets

OAKLAND, California -- Alameda County Superior Court Judge Larry Goodman issued a gag order in the Hans Reiser murder trial Thursday.

"No party and no party's attorney or anyone assigned to work on the above-entitled case, or employed or retained to work on any aspect of the above-entitled case?shall directly or indirectly communicate with any member of the press or new media concerning any matter relating to the above-entitled case," the order reads.

Goodman's order is good until "further order of this court." The above-entitled case is "People v. Reiser, 154825. Trial, which began Nov. 6, is expected to conclude perhaps as early as next month.

The order came a day after defense attorney William DuBois complained to a gaggle of reporters after Wednesday's session that Nina Reiser, the wife Hans Reiser is accused of killing, endangered the couple's kids when she had an affair with a sadomasochist. Earlier, the judge excluded DuBois from bringing up sadomasochism, ruling it was "prejudicial."

Commentary: Every time trial breaks, the judge admonishes jurors not to read, watch or listen to published reports of the heavily covered case. A gag order underscores he must suspect jurors are not following his order.

Sketch by Wired.com's Norman Quebedeau.

THREAT LEVEL is providing gavel-to-gavel coverage. Hans Reiser is on the witness stand. Here is what happened earlier in the day.

• Hans Reiser Taking Witness Stand Now; Did You Kill Your Wife?
• Defense Planting Seeds of Doubt; Hans Reiser Likely to Testify ...
• Hans Reiser Evading Police Because He Was Upset, Feared Arrest ...
• Hans Reiser Murder Trial: The Ego, the Filesystem and No Mention ...
• Hans Reiser Murder Trial: Indigent, Technospeak and Evading Detection
• Hans Reiser to Testify; Judge Says Sufficient Evidence to 'Sustain ...
• Hans Reiser Murder Trial: The Vilification Defense Begins -- UPDATE II

Full post as published by Threat Level on March 06, 2008 (boomark / email).