In Canada, the slaying of an eight-year-old girl has raised eyebrows among the media not only for the heinousness of the crime, but also for a gag order that is preventing the ensuing court case from being covered.
A court-ordered publication ban by Judge Dougald McDermid prevents anyone from reporting on the court case in the slaying of Ontario girl Victoria Stafford, who disappeared in April 2009 and whose remains were found three months later in a field. Even the reasons behind the ban are off-limits for the media.
One of the suspects in the case of the girl's murder was scheduled to appear in court last Friday facing a first-degree murder charge. The publication ban issued by the judge prevents all media from reporting any further details.
An editorial in the Globe and Mail stated the ban "goes too far," while The Toronto Star carried the headline "Gagged" last weekend. The latter paper even ran a second front-page editorial with blacked-out sections showing where details of what transpired in court would have been reported.
"It's unusual in its scope and how broad it is and how much it covers," Iain MacKinnon, a lawyer acting on behalf of several media organizations covering the case, told Canada's CBC News. "No matter what, there should be some basic information that should be published."
A similar media ban was once issued in the court case of Karla Homolka, who eventually served a 12-year sentence for manslaughter after entering into a plea bargain in 1993 with Ontario Crown officials in exchange for testimony against her ex-husband. The two had perpetrated the sex slayings of two Ontario teens.
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