Judge bars public, media from hearings
By DEANNA BOYD
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
FORT WORTH - State District Judge Wayne Salvant issued an unusually restrictive gag order Thursday in the cases of three former TCU athletes accused of sexually assaulting another student inside a dorm room this month, barring the media from pretrial hearings and prohibiting anyone from commenting to the media about the case.

Gwinda Burns, attorney for Virgil Allen Taylor, requested the gag order on her client's behalf, citing the extensive media coverage that the case has received.

Taylor, Shannon Behling and Lorenzo Jones were charged Tuesday with sexual assault.

"Virgil Taylor intends to produce evidence during pretrial hearings which might impair the possibility of obtaining a fair and unprejudiced jury," Burns wrote in her motion.

Salvant was in trial Thursday and did not return e-mail or phone messages. The Star-Telegram intends to challenge the order.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Taylor is accused of luring the 18-year-old woman to his dormitory room Oct. 13 under the guise of repaying money she had loaned him to purchase a hamburger.

There, the woman told police, she was given a sports drink that caused her to pass out.

The woman told police she awoke briefly to find Taylor having sex with her.

In an interview by police with Taylor, the 19-year-old basketball player admitted that the girl was unconscious during sex and implicated Behling as well, the affidavit stated.

Behling, also a 19-year-old basketball player, acknowledged in a subsequent interview that he performed a sexual act with the woman while she was "completely out of it," the affidavit stated. He also told police that he saw Jones, a former football player, have sexual intercourse with the woman.

Though the gag order was requested on Taylor's behalf, Behling's name was written on the motion by hand. The gag order does not name Jones, but a deputy who answered the phone inside the courtroom Thursday said the order also extends to his case.

Salvant denied parts of Burns' motion, including her request that the media be restricted from taking photographs in the courthouse of the defendants, witnesses and others connected with the case or photographing Taylor while he is being transported to the courtroom.

He did, however, grant Burns' request that all pretrial hearings be held in the judge's chambers, "outside of the presence and hearing of the public and the press."

He also granted her request to restrict the media from reporting in detail the evidence obtained by the court during pretrial hearings and to bar any person from commenting to the media on any matter concerning the case during its pretrial or trial, according to the gag order.

Neither Burns nor Behling's attorney, Glynis McGinty, returned phone calls seeking comment Tuesday morning before the gag order was issued. Tarrant County court records do not indicate that Jones has hired or been appointed an attorney.

Taylor and Behling are free on $25,000 bail each. Bail conditions added Thursday for both men prohibit contact with the victim or her family and the use of alcohol or drugs. Both men must provide urine samples for drug testing, according to court records obtained by the Star-Telegram Thursday.

Jones, 20, was transferred to the Tarrant County Jail Thursday, where he remained on $27,000 bail.

The order seems to deny the rights which the Supreme Court has affirmed belong to the media, i.e. the right to sit, listen, watch and report. Richmond Newspapers, Inc., 448 U.S. 555, 576. But, the press has no right to gather information superior to that of the general public and I am sure a defendant can waive his right to "public trial", so . . .

Gag order lifted in TCU sexual assault case
By MAX B. BAKER
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

FORT WORTH � State District Judge Wayne Salvant lifted a gag order Wednesday morning in the cases of three former TCU athletes accused of sexually assaulting another student, calling it overbroad and not necessary.

The Star-Telegram had challenged Salvant�s original order, which banned the public � including the media � from attending any pretrial hearings. It also forbade the media from reporting on any evidence presented beyond listing witnesses and prohibits anyone from discussing the case with the media.

�I do think it was overly broad,� Salvant said of the order he signed last week. �We have a long way to go with this case and a gag order at this point is not necessary.�

Salvant also said it was �ridiculous� to believe that he planned to hold any pre-trial hearings in his chambers, outside of the scrutiny of the public and the press.

�This is a public courthouse and this is a public courtroom and they have a right to be here.�

Salvant issued the order last week at the request of Gwinda Burns, one of the defendants� attorneys, who said pretrial publicity could hurt her client�s effort to get a fair trial.

Good for the judge. Funny he did not read or think about the order more carefully to begin with.