Wyo. judge OKs lifelong gag order

By: Mark Fitzgerald 'mckinney plea' may be cited in controversial cases by

A Wyoming judge has signed a controversial and apparently unprecedented sentencing agreement that prevents the convicted killer of gay college student Matthew Shepard from ever discussing the case with reporters.
At first a little-noticed coda to the highly emotional trial of one of the two men who brutally beat Shepard and left him to die tied to a split-rail prairie fence, the agreement that spared Aaron McKinney from a possible death penalty has alarmed increasing numbers of journalists and civil-rights activists because of its lifelong gag order on McKinney, his public defenders, and other defense-team members.
"It's unprecedented. It's one thing to gag the lawyers or the parties during an ongoing proceeding because you're concerned about something getting out in the press. But after it's over, it's unthinkable to not let the direct participants talk about this very important case. This is just bizarre, unprecedented, and dangerous," said Leon Friedman, the Hofstra University law professor who successfully challenged the constitutionality of New York state's "Son of Sam" law in 1991.
District Judge Barton R. Voigt, who presided over the murder trial of the 22-year-old McKinney, signed the sentencing order Nov. 12, and filed it six days later. The order's filing was not disclosed until a Dec. 9 article by Becky Orr in the Cheyenne-based Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. "Mr. McKinney further agrees ? to refrain from talking to any news media organizations regarding State v. McKinney," the agreement reads in part.
Wyoming Press Association Executive Director Jim Angell said newspapers in the state are worried the gag order could become a precedent that would follow every controversial trial. William K. Dobbs, a New York lawyer and gay activist who has been publicizing the plea bargain, called the gag order "a violation of the public's right to know. ? I sure hope this is challenged and overturned."
While McKinney's lawyers could be disciplined for talking about the case, it's not clear how McKinney himself could be punished for violating the gag, said Tribune-Eagle Managing Editor D. Reed Eckhardt. "What are they going to do ? give him another life sentence?" Eckhardt said of McKinney, who received two life sentences as a result of the agreement.
The sentencing agreement may very well have the ironic effect of memorializing the killer of Shepard, said Billie Ruth Edwards, interim director of the Wyoming chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Addressing McKinney in court, Matthew Shepard's father Dennis said his family approved the plea bargain so "you won't be a symbol. No years of publicity, no chance of a commutation, no nothing ? just a miserable future and a more miserable end."
"Unfortunately for the Shepards, it may be that he's going to become much more well-known, like Miranda," Edwards said. "This could become known as a 'McKinney plea,' and his name will live on for a long, long time."
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(copyright: Editor & Publisher December 11, 1999) [Caption]