Court grants motion for newspaper to intervene
DAKOTA CITY – A trial judge ruled in favor of a newspaper’s motion to intervene to have access to exhibits during a murder case involving the deaths of four Laurel residents.
“We wanted a seat at the table to discuss these First Amendment issues and that’s what we got, and now our objections are on the record,” said Rob Dump, Cedar County News publisher.
The Cedar County News filed the motion last week, stemming from a July hearing in which Corey O’Brien of the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office indicated he would be requesting a protective order to bar media from having access to trial exhibits including videos, photographs and other evidence.
At the July hearing, O’Brien said he would be making the request through Jason Jones’ murder trial and possibly even through the prosecution of his wife, Carrie Jones, who is charged in connection with the same crimes.
Jason Jones, 44, is accused of murdering four people - Gene Twiford, Janet Twiford, Dana Twiford and Michele Shankles-Ebeling - and setting their homes on fire on Aug. 4, 2022, in Laurel.
The trial got underway with opening arguments Thursday morning - moved to Dakota County due to extensive media coverage in Cedar County, among other issues.
During the July hearing, O’Brien said if evidence is disseminated through widespread media coverage, he fears it will be difficult to seat a fair and impartial jury in the subsequent trial of Carrie Jones.
She is being charged with the murder of Gene Twiford, tampering with evidence and being an accessory to the crime. A trial date has not been set.
Cedar County News’ lawyer Nathan Clark said Thursday morning that the blanket restriction to exhibits in the case is cause for concern.
“Using the notoriety of the case as the reason for denying the access weakens the First Amendment exactly when it is needed the most,” Clark said.
O’Brien agreed a potential protective order could be narrowed and apply to only certain exhibits but contended that the right to a fair trial is superior than the First Amendment rights of the media.
“It’s not our intent to deny them access forever,” O’Brien said. “Nobody here is trying to deprive their right to tell the story.”
Clark said Thursday morning’s hearing was the first time the lawyers expressed narrowly tailoring the restriction of exhibits.
Todd Lancaster, Jason Jones’ defense lawyer, said Thursday he’s “kind of on the side of the press.”
While the press should have rights to exhibits, his concern mainly lied in those exhibits entered into evidence but ultimately ruled to be inadmissible through objections raised.
“Those records are still in the court record, and they could publish those. Potentially, people might see something that was not submitted to review as part of evidence,” he said.
Through Nebraska’s rules on expanded media coverage, the judge has the ultimate decision on what evidence can be accessed particularly through videography and photography, Lancaster said.
Although he granted the newspaper’s motion to intervene Thursday morning, Judge Bryan Meismer said, “I don’t think that solves the problem necessarily.”
He gave Cedar County News two days to file their complaint for intervention - which they did by the end of the day Thursday.