Media say OJ questionnaires are too little, too late

© 2008 Associated Press
Photo by Isaac Brekken

(Photo of Judge Jackie Glass)


By Akiko Matsumoto

The Associated Press and the Las Vegas Review-Journal are challenging the trial judge of the O.J. Simpson armed robbery-kidnapping trial for improperly withholding jury questionnaires, according to firstamendmentcenter.org.

In documents addressed to the Nevada Supreme Court, attorneys for the two media organizations argued that Clark County District Judge Jackie Glass did not give any valid legal reason for delaying the release of the questionnaires or for editing parts upon release.

Glass censored usually public information from the questionnaires, including where jurors were born and raised, whether they had any children, and whether they owned a house.

AP lawyer Colby Williams argued that the press and public would have been entitled to this information in an open court and that completed questionnaires should have become public by the time the jury was selected.

Glass told the state Supreme Court that she denied access to the court proceedings for the safety of the jurors. Jurors could have been endangered by users of three gambling Web sites that had bet on the trial's outcome.