Trial Transcripts Ordered Unsealed in ‘Twilight’ Case
A Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner Tuesday ordered unsealed transcripts of heretofore private discussions held between the judge, the prosecutor and the defense attorneys in the recently completed “Twilight Zone” involuntary manslaughter trial.
Commissioner Florence-Marie Cooper, granting a motion filed by The Times and the California Freedom of Information Committee, publicly released about 200 pages of transcripts from 27 conferences held at the bench or in the chambers of Superior Court Judge Roger W. Boren during the 10-month trial, which ended in the acquittal of film director John Landis and four associates.
The transcripts contain various hearsay allegations, which Boren ruled inadmissible as evidence, concerning the behavior of crew members, including Landis, on the 1982 film set. The transcripts also contain allegations by various attorneys that Landis, Boren and the prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Lea Purwin D’Agostino, displayed improper courtroom demeanor.
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