OAKLAND, California -- Alameda County Superior Court Judge Larry Goodman issued a gag order in the Hans Reiser murder trial Thursday.
"No party and no party's attorney or anyone assigned to work on the above-entitled case, or employed or retained to work on any aspect of the above-entitled case…shall directly or indirectly communicate with any member of the press or new media concerning any matter relating to the above-entitled case," the order reads.
Goodman's order is good until "further order of this court." The above-entitled case is "People v. Reiser, 154825. Trial, which began Nov. 6, is expected to conclude perhaps as early as next month.
The order came a day after defense attorney William DuBois complained to a gaggle of reporters after Wednesday's session that Nina Reiser, the wife Hans Reiser is accused of killing, endangered the couple's kids when she had an affair with a sadomasochist. Earlier, the judge excluded DuBois from bringing up sadomasochism, ruling it was "prejudicial."
Commentary: Every time trial breaks, the judge admonishes jurors not to read, watch or listen to published reports of the heavily covered case. A gag order underscores he must suspect jurors are not following his order.
Sketch by Wired.com's Norman Quebedeau.
THREAT LEVEL is providing gavel-to-gavel coverage. Hans Reiser is on the witness stand. Here is what happened earlier in the day.
