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Murder Suspect's Attorney Pleads To Keep Details Secret

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By TODD RUGER, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: February 4, 2008

SARASOTA - SARASOTA - SARASOTA — Defense attorneys in the Denise Lee abduction and slaying case asked a circuit judge today to reconsider a ruling that rejected a 60-day delay in releasing public records.

Assistant Public Defender John Scotese argued again that the judge should keep secret information given to Michael King's defense attorneys for a "reasonable time" before it becomes public record.

"What we're asking is not much at all," Scotese said.

Circuit Judge Deno Economou denied the same motion last week, but agreed to hear more arguments on the issue from Scotese today. Economou said he would make a decision by Wednesday afternoon.

The delay would give attorneys time to petition the judge to keep certain records secret, Scotese said.

Similar measures were taken in the Carlie Brucia murder trial and the Danny Rolling trial, Scotese said, both cases that garnered national media attention.

Defense attorneys listed details of media reports on the King case such as "grim find," "random act of evil," and interviews with friends and neighbors who said he "makes up stories and lies."

"They're clearly necessary in this case," Scotese said of potential restrictions.

Herald-Tribune attorney Rachel Fugate told the judge that the publicity still does not rise to the level of requiring a delay in making records public.

She said there is a "vast difference" between the King case and the Carlie Brucia case, where the national media swarmed to the area and a video of the girl's abduction was broadcast worldwide.

In a two-page order issued last week, Economou "strongly advised" attorneys to follow already established rules against making prejudicial statements that could reasonably end up in the media.

Those rules also require attorneys not to assist anyone in making prejudicial statements about the case, and require them to exercise reasonable care to prevent investigators, employees or others associated with the case from making such statements.

King, 36, is charged in the abduction and slaying of Lee, 21. Investigators say he sexually assaulted her and drove her to a wooded area near Toledo Blade Boulevard and Interstate 75 in North Port, where her body was found buried with a gunshot to the head.

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