WCTV and the Tallahassee Democrat are challenging a court order that cuts off public records access in the murder of police informant Rachel Hoffman.
An interesting twist in a criminal courtroom Monday morning... prosecutors and defense attorneys all on the same side ... trying to keep evidence in the Rachel Hoffman murder case out of the public eye.
On the other side, civil attorneys for WCTV and the Tallahassee Democrat. They are challenging an order by Judge Kathleen Dekker that seals all pre-trial documents and evidence.
Usually that information is open and available through public records laws.
Attorney for the Tallahassee Democrat Mike Glazer says, "There are serious questions not only about guilt or innocence, about the tragedy that one family is suffering but also the conduct of the police in all of this. And to the extent that the proceedings or any part of the proceedings is done behind closed doors, it undermines public confidence."
The Defendants in this case Andrea Green and Deneilo Bradshaw are charged with robbing and murdering police informant Rachel Hoffman during what was suppose to be an undercover and controlled drug buy.
The State Attorney's Office and defense attorneys for Green and Bradshaw say it's more important to ensure the men get a fair trial... preferably in Leon County.
Assistant State Attorney Eddie Evans says, "What the motion is designed to prevent is too much pre-trial publicity getting out there. It poisons the well and the jurors can't be fair because they know too much and its so embedded in their memories."
An attorney for Green presented evidence that the Democrat has published 66 articles about this case so far... and WCTV has aired 46 stories.
Defense attorneys also said that some 75 hundred comments have been posted in relation to the Hoffman stories on the WCTV and the Democrats websites.
About 5 to 7 percent of the Democrats and WCTV's stories have anything to do with whether Green and Deneilo were guilty of the crimes.