[FresnoDA]

Visibly annoyed judge bans radio reporter from courtroom

Superior Court Judge William Mudd, left, has become increasing frustrated with the press during the David Westerfield trial.

By Harriet Ryan
Court TV

SAN DIEGO — As jurors deliberated David Westerfield's fate for a fourth day, the judge angrily denied a banned radio reporter's attempt to get back in the courtroom.

"She's out and will remain out," said Superior Court Judge William Mudd during a hearing Tuesday morning.

He said neither KFMB reporter River Stillwood nor any representative of the station's daytime talk program, The Rick Roberts Show, will be allowed in his court for the capital murder verdict. He also barred reporters from the show from participating in courtroom interviews with jurors after the verdict.

 

Reporter River Stillwood listen in court Tuesday.

The judge booted Stillwood from her seat in the front of the courtroom Aug. 8, the day after the station broadcast an apparently accurate account of a closed hearing between Mudd and the lawyers in the case. The hearing concerned, in part, an encounter between the victim Danielle van Dam's father and the parents of defense attorney Steven Feldman.

Mudd ordered Stillwood to reveal the source of the leak and when she said she did not know, he asked her to leave the courtroom.

Joann Rezzo, an attorney for the radio station, argued for Stillwood to be permitted back in court, saying the reporter had no idea who the source of the information was and in any case, was protected from revealing her sources by the state reporter's shield law.

 

Lawyer for radio station, Joann Rezzo, argues point in court.

The lawyer suggested the judge "talk to people who were actually present in the court at the time to find out who the source was."

Mudd acknowledged that an internal investigation was underway, but said Stillwood would remain out. He blasted the station and particularly Roberts, who he referred to repeatedly but never by name.

"(Stillwood) is the representative of an individual who takes great glee and delight in shoving it in the court's face," said Mudd.

Stillwood is permitted in the media room adjacent to the courtroom, where she can watch the proceedings on closed-circuit television. The station is selling "Free River" T-shirts on its Web site.

The judge also announced Tuesday morning that jurors sent a note requesting the audio tape and transcript of a police interview with Westerfield Feb. 4, three days after Danielle vanished from her room. In the interview, Westerfield recounts his alibi for the days after her disappearance — a circuitous 560-mile trip in his recreational vehicle.

At one point while describing the solo trip, Westerfield used the plural "we" instead of "I," a slip the prosecution said revealed his consciousness of guilt.

"This little place we were, we were at was just a small turn-off type place," Westerfield told police interrogation specialist Paul Redden.

[FresnoDA]

Judge Denounces Talk Show 'Idiots'

Radio, Television Station Draws Mudd's Fury

Posted: 11:46 a.m. PDT August 13, 2002
Updated: 2:24 p.m. PDT August 13, 2002

SAN DIEGO -- The judge in the David Westerfield trial Tuesday refused to allow a radio producer back in the courtroom after delivering a tirade against the woman's employers.

	Watch Judge William Mudd Express His Opinion SOUND OFF: Discuss The Trial

"Every other ... station in this community followed the request of the court, except KFMB," Superior Court Judge William Mudd said.

Mudd spoke for about eight minutes before denying a motion on behalf of KFMB-Radio assistant producer River Stillwood to allow her back into his courtroom.

"The only thing I can do is control my own courtroom," the judge said. "She's out and will remain out."

Stillwood, who works on "The Rick Roberts Show," was kicked out of the courtroom Aug. 8, the morning after her station reported what happened in a closed-door hearing the night before.

Media attorney Joann Rezzo told the judge that Stillwood didn't give him "the source of the leak" because she didn't know who it was.

"She didn't know then ... she doesn't know now ... the source of the confidential information," Rezzo said.

The attorney said there were no reporters at the closed-door hearing, yet information on the hearing still "leaked out to the press."

Mudd said an internal investigation is under way to find out who gave the information to the radio program.

The judge said his first inclination after the report was broadcast was to ban the CBS television network and affiliates KFMB-TV and KFMB-Radio from the trial, but decided against it after his wife told him "to sleep on it."

"They don't get it," Mudd said, referring to KFMB.

The judge said KFMB was the only station to broadcast the information regarding the closed-door hearing, and the only station to show pictures of Westerfield's son, Neal, when he specifically issued an order against it.

Mudd said the station had probably received advice from its attorneys "that they can publish whatever they want."

The judge suggested that Stillwood's boss must be taking "great glee in shoving it in this court's face."

"Let's not kid ourselves, it's not, as he pontificates, to spread the truth and be the nice guy -- it's for ratings," Mudd said.

Stillwood (pictured, right) can still cover the proceedings from an adjoining media room, and KFMB-Radio can send someone from its news department to sit in on the trial, the judge said.

Mudd also singled out what he called "idiots" from a Los Angeles radio talk station "acting like teenagers" in front of the courthouse.

Mudd said he had done a 180-degree turnaround on the issue of allowing cameras and reporters in the courtroom since deciding to allow Court TV to cover the trial live.

In denying Stillwood's request, Mudd quoted from a case involving the Nebraska Press Association: "The extraordinary protections afforded by the First Amendment carry with them something in the nature of a fiduciary duty to exercise their protective rights responsibly; a duty widely acknowledged, but not always observed by editors and publishers."

"It is not asking to much to suggest that those who exercise First Amendment rights in newspapers or broadcasting enterprises direct some effort to protect the rights of the accused to a fair trial," read Mudd.