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Gag order sought in Lincoln murder case

November 11, 2008|TODD KLEFFMAN

STANFORD - An attorney for one of the men charged in the 2002 murders of Ryan Shangraw and Bo Upton is asking that further proceedings in the case be closed to the public and that those involved be prohibited from talking to the media.

Public defender James L. Cox, who represents Neccolus L. Mundy, filed the motion for a gag order last week in Lincoln Circuit Court. He argues that the murder case has "already received a great deal of publicity" and additional coverage would damage his client's chance for a fair trial.

Judge Jeffrey Burdette has set a pretrial conference on Nov. 25 to hear motions by prosecutors and attorneys for the five defendants in advance of the trial, which is tentatively scheduled for April.

Mundy, along with Charles E. Smith and Deonte Simmons, have been charged as adults and face the death penalty if convicted of the murders. All three are from Richmond and have pleaded not guilty.

Jamarkos Campbell, also of Richmond, also is charged in the murders but was a juvenile when they occurred and does not face capital punishment. Campbell also has pleaded not guilty.

Another suspect, Matthew Tolson, has pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal facilitation to commit murder and other charges in exchange for a recommended sentence of 20 years in prison. Tolson has agreed to testify against the other defendants.

Shangraw and Upton were shot multiple times and killed during a robbery at Shangraw's mobile home in February 2002. The case appeared dormant for years until Campbell was arrested in April and police eventually arrested all five suspects.

Request for bond reduction

Cox also filed a motion asking that Mundy's $750,000 cash bond be reduced and that, if Burdette does not reduce the bond, that an adversarial hearing be conducted "to determine the strength of the commonwealth's case."

Cox declined to comment on the motions Tuesday.

Danville defense attorney Ephraim Helton, who does not represent any of the murder suspects, said that seeking a gag order is a common tactic used by defense attorneys but rarely successful.

Judges are loathe to close judicial proceedings or prevent participants from talking with the media in such cases, Helton said, unless it can be shown there is something extraordinary, beyond normal pretrial publicity, that warrants the action.

Helton also said that adversarial hearings are rare. Such hearings are similar to a preliminary hearing in district court, he said.

But rather than determining if there is probable cause for a case to proceed to a grand jury, which is the reason for a preliminary hearing, an adversarial hearing is held to determine

if prosecutors have enough evidence against a client to merit the bond amount, Helton said.

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