[JLS]

He takes judicial notice of the "facts" in a generalized statement about the "extensive news coverage"; he makes no findings about any improprities;

He wants to have his cake and eat it too. He wants to say we are at the brink of prejudicing a fair trial. If he went one step further, he would assure a change of venue motion would have to be granted. He is twisting himself into a pretzel to avoid that.

[Mad-Margaret]

But the Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial goes to the defendants. If the defendants aren't complaining, why is the judge acting sua sponte and invoking Rule 3.6?

And why aren't any of the talking heads with law degrees questioning the judge's authority to apply a professional conduct rule to non-attorneys?