Judge may ban press comment after California shooting

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) — A judge on Friday barred attorneys from speaking to the press about the criminal case of a farm worker accused of killing seven people last month in shootings at two mushroom farms in Northern California.

San Mateo County Judge Elizabeth K. Lee on Friday issued a gag order barring prosecutors and defense attorneys, as well as the alleged killer and the county sheriff’s office, from speaking to reporters about the facts of the case or sharing opinions about what happened. They may still discuss open court decisions and the procedural status of upcoming hearings.

The judge previously granted a request by defense lawyers to restrict remote access to court records, the Bay Area newsgroup reported.

Press has hit Half Moon Bay in the aftermath of the Jan. 23 shootings, which authorities say stemmed from workplace disputes. The violence was the third mass shooting in California in eight days last month and follows the killing of 11 people in the Los Angeles area during the Lunar New Year celebrations.

Chunli Zhao, 66, has been charged with seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

Zhao has yet to file a guilty plea, but admitted to the shooting during a prison media interview. He did not respond to an Associated Press inquiry via the prison’s online messaging system.

Li on Friday heard a motion by defense attorneys to restrict access to the case, a proceeding part of which Zhao sobbed, prompting the judge to adjourn, the Bay Area news group reported.

Jonathan McDougall, Zhao’s defense lawyer, called District Attorney Steve Wagstaff’s comments to the press “incredibly egregious” and asked Lee to ban lawyers from talking to the media because the remarks could tarnish jurors, the newsgroup reported.

McDougall also said that the “aggressiveness” of the press, referring to his client’s interview with the media, means that Lee must limit what lawyers can say to reporters.

“Mr. Wagstaffe has confirmed to the press information from a law enforcement investigation revealing factual information,” McDougall said. “This is all information that has not even been revealed to the judiciary staff yet and is now being voiced by Mr. Wagstaffe to the press.”

Prosecutor Josh Stauffer objected to the characterization of Wagstaffe’s statements. Lee asked both parties to draw up a non-disclosure order, according to the Bay Area newsgroup.

“My duty as the district attorney, in addition to being the district attorney, is to be a source of information for the public about what is happening in their criminal justice system,” Wagstaffe said Friday in an email to the AP.

Wagstaffe wrote that he responds to every media inquiry and his role is different from that of Zhao’s defense team.

“They have a debt to one person: accused of murders. I am accountable to the public,” he wrote, and to ensure that “criminal justice does not work behind the scenes.”

Wagstaffe has made few public comments on the case other than confirming what the media has already written. For example, he confirmed a previous Bay Area News Group report that the shooting at one of the farms occurred after Zhao’s boss demanded that he pay $100 to repair his forklift after he had an accident with a colleague’s bulldozer.

McDougall did not immediately respond to an AP request for comment Friday.