June 19, 2013

Aurora: Lift gag order in theater shooting case

BY: AP Staff Writer JANUARY 16, 2013 | MODIFIED: JANUARY 16, 2013 AT 9:16 PM
Leave a comment

DENVER (AP) — The City of Aurora has asked a judge to lift a gag order preventing officials from discussing the July 20 attack at a movie theater that left 12 dead and 70 injured.

In court papers filed Tuesday and made public Wednesday, an attorney for the city said officials have received several requests from police and fire departments for briefings and tips on how they managed the attack on a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises."

The city also noted that it has received public records requests from media, academics and individuals around the world.

Judge William Sylvester imposed a gag order three days after the shooting that prevents all parties in the case form releasing information. Accused gunman James Holmes is due to be arraigned in March on 166 felony counts for the massacre.

The city argued that the gag order is moot after prosecutors revealed details of their case against Holmes in a three-day hearing last week. Sylvester found that the evidence was strong enough to make Holmes stand trial.

Martha L. Fitzgerald, attorney for the city, argued that officials should at least be allowed to release recordings of 911 calls from the attack that were played in court last week and to discuss the response to the shooting.

View article comments Leave a comment

More from washingtonexaminer.com

From the Weekly Standard

  • Frack to the Future

    Williston, N.D.

    Read More...
  • Downsize Ike

    The beleaguered Eisenhower Memorial Commission holds its next public gathering later this month, and before its members duck-walk into the hearing room, huddled in a hoplite phalanx against a...

    Read More...
  • The Lesson of Kermit Gosnell

    What was the lesson of the Kermit Gosnell trial? Since the Philadelphia doctor was convicted last month of murdering three born-alive infants, two competing viewpoints have emerged.

    Read More...