Injunction sidelines sex attack case story

A Hillsborough County Circuit Court judge signed an emergency order Thursday afternoon to stop TBO.com and The Tampa Tribune from publishing and News Channel 8 from airing stories that contained statements made by four former Walker Middle School students accused of sexually assaulting a classmate.

In response to the injunction, a story that first was reported on TBO.com about the four teen defendants' accounts of the alleged attacks was taken down from the Web site an hour and a half after it first was posted, about 3:30 p.m.

The order was signed by Judge Emmett Lamar Battles and was faxed to the media outlets from the state attorney's office. It states that "certain discovery material not be disclosed to the public until the criminal charges against the defendants are finally determined by adjudication, dismissal or other final disposition."

The documents were obtained under a public records request at the courthouse Thursday by a News Channel 8 reporter.

Janet Coats, vice president of news for Media General's Florida Communications Group, said the story was pulled because the media outlets were not going to violate a judge's order. But the media organizations' attorneys are challenging the injunction.

"We're going to fight the order," Coats said. "We believe we obtained this material properly. But while we are fighting it, we had to take the story down."

News Channel 8 also pulled its story from the 5 p.m. newscast. The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8 all are owned by Media General.

Attorneys representing all three media outlets could not get a hearing on the issue Thursday night.

Gregg Thomas of the Thomas, LoCicero & Bralow law firm, which represents the Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8 in matters of media law, said the injunction is a violation of the First Amendment. "It is extremely rare in our country" to receive an order barring publication of information newspapers obtained legally, Thomas said.

Coats agreed.

"The order literally says we can't report this, but what it really tells the public is you can't know this," Coats said. "And the issue is the safety of teens at school."

The documents obtained by News Channel 8 included statements from Lee Louis Myers, 14, Raymond A. Price-Murray, 14, Randall John Moye, 14, and Diemante Roberts, 15.

Investigators say the four teens bullied a flag football teammate for weeks before assaulting him with a broomstick and a hockey stick in a locker room at the school. The case first was investigated by school officials, who called in law enforcement. The four teens were arrested May 6.

The boys have been charged as adults and face four counts of sexual battery. They all have pleaded not guilty.

Another document listed 22 students interviewed by prosecutors. But it is unclear whether those students witnessed what happened. Prosecutors declined to comment Thursday on what the students said.

Other documents obtained Thursday were 10 letters written by a pastor, a coach and friends on behalf of Price-Murray, along with various motions filed before court hearings or trials.

In previous hearings, Assistant State Attorney Kim Hindman said Myers and Moye held the boy down while Roberts and Price-Murray assaulted him.