News Groups Seek to Lift Simpson Trial Gag Order

A slew of news organizations, print and broadcast, united Friday to file legal papers asking that the broad gag order in the wrongful death case against O.J. Simpson be lifted.

Contending that the gag order imposed Aug. 13 by Superior Court Judge Hiroshi Fujisaki “flies in the face of the constitutional presumption in favor of public access to court proceedings,” the news groups asked the 2nd District Court of Appeal to set aside the ban.

With the civil case due to begin Sept. 17 in Santa Monica, “immediate action . . . is critical,” the brief states.

Later Friday, the appeals court set a Wednesday deadline for competing legal papers. It invited briefs from Fujisaki as well as from Simpson, Fred Goldman and Sharon Rufo--the father and mother of murder victim Ronald Goldman--and from lawyers on behalf of the estates of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson.

The gag order forbids all participants in the civil trial--lawyers, plaintiffs, the defendant and witnesses--from talking with the media. Fujisaki issued it Aug. 13 and affirmed it on Aug. 23.

On Aug. 23, the judge also barred TV coverage of the civil trial.

The legal papers filed Friday do not take up the issue of TV coverage inside the courtroom. Judges in California have considerable discretion in deciding whether to permit cameras, and legal analysts have said Fujisaki is on solid ground in banning electronic media from the courtroom.

The legal brief asserts that the gag order violates the 1st Amendment. In addition, the brief contends that Fujisaki was wrong to issue a blanket gag order without justifying the reasons for it.

The brief was filed by attorney Kelli L. Sager on behalf of CNN, NBC, KNBC-TV Channel 4, the Associated Press, Copley News Service, the Santa Monica Outlook, the Daily Breeze, CBS, King World Productions, the E! cable television channel, ABC, KABC-TV Channel 7, KCAL-TV Channel 9 and the Los Angeles Times.