Judge In Capital Gazette Shooting Case Rules On Evidence Sharing
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A judge presiding over the case of a man accused of killing five people at a Maryland newspaper ruled Wednesday that although prosecutors must give details in their possession about the case to the defense, they don't have to conduct additional research for them.
Attorneys in the case have been wrangling over issues relating to discovery, a legal process in which information about evidence is exchanged between the defense and the prosecution.
RELATED COVERAGE:
- Memorial Held For 5 Employees Killed In Capital Gazette Shooting
- A Year After Capital Gazette Attack, Journalists Embraced By Annapolis
- Accused Capital Gazette Mass Shooter Appears In Court; Mental Evaluation 'Ongoing'
Defense attorneys for Jarrod Ramos have argued prosecutors have not released information to them that could help defend their client. They have specifically asked for messages Ramos wrote against the Capital Gazette on the social media site Twitter.
Katy O'Donnell, one of Ramos' lawyers, said the messages and other details in previous police investigations support their client's not criminally responsible by reason of insanity defense, because they represent "documented deterioration" of their client's mental health, dating back to 2010. She told Judge Laura Ripken that there is "a great deal" of information about their client that they don't have.
State's Attorney Anne Leitess, however, told the judge that prosecutors have gone "above and beyond" in turning over documents in their possession.
"We've given them what we have," Leitess said.
Ripken said the state has an ongoing responsibility to provide information about the case to the defense, and she said she is satisfied the state has done so to the extent that it can.
"The state is not required to go out and do additional research," Ripken said.
Attorneys were scheduled to continue pretrial arguments Wednesday afternoon.
Ramos, 39, had a well-documented history of harassing the Capital Gazette's journalists. He filed a lawsuit against the paper in 2012, alleging he was defamed in an article about his conviction in a criminal harassment case in 2011. The Capital newspaper had published a story describing allegations by a woman who said Ramos harassed her online for months. The defamation suit was dismissed as groundless, and Ramos railed against staff at the newspaper in profanity-laced tweets.
In the days after the attack, area judges and an attorney received letters that threatened the newsroom and were signed with Ramos' name.
Capital Gazette employees John McNamara, Wendi Winters, Rebecca Smith, Gerald Fischman and Rob Hiaasen were killed in the attack . Journalists crawled under desks and sought other hiding places, describing agonizing minutes of terror as they heard the gunman's footsteps and repeated shotgun blasts. County police said they captured Ramos hiding under a desk.
Ramos is scheduled to be tried in November on first-degree murder charges in the June 2018 shooting.
(© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
