Judge Allows Blogs Updates in Courtroom

Feride Yalav

The Daily Camera—a Boulder, CO newspaper—reported that Judge Lael Montgomery, a Boulder district judge, ruled that cell phones and computers will not be banned during the trial of Alex Midyette. Midyette is suspected of causing the death of his 11-week-old son Jason.

Lawyers on both sides of the case argued against the ruling saying that information released through blogging and text messaging could alert witnesses of what other witnesses were testifying to inside the courtroom. Such information, according to them, infringes Midyette’s right to a fair trial by altering testimonies due to the loose availability of information.

Montgomery responded to the arguments against her ruling by stating that she would instruct the jury to refrain from reading or viewing any of the information dispersed in media outlets as well as expecting the lawyers to tell their witnesses not to talk to one another or read any of the information posted about the trial, according to the Daily Camera. 

Those in defense of Montgomery’s ruling perceive this move as a reconciliation between the first amendment and a person’s right to a fair trial. There is also a long tradition present in the courts of instructing jurors and witnesses to avoid information given by the media during proceedings which gives more credit to Montgomery’s move toward providing information freely to the public about the trial, according to the Daily Camera. 


• Can the competing interests of the first amendment and a person’s right to a fair trial work together?
• Even if witnesses and jury members are instructed to ignore the media outlet information, how can the judge be sure that they do and that their judgments and testimonies are unbiased?