Judge allows still photography in John Geer police shooting trial next month
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Version 0 of 1. A still photographer will be allowed to take pictures during the murder trial of former Fairfax County police officer Adam D. Torres next month, a Fairfax judge ruled Monday. Torres, 32, is charged in the August 2013 shooting death of John B. Geer, 46, in Springfield. At a hearing on Friday, The Washington Post asked Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Robert J. Smith to allow both video and still cameras in the trial, set for Dec. 14. [Former Fairfax police officer charged with murder of unarmed Springfield man] Both the prosecution and the defense opposed any photography, saying that it could affect witness behavior on the stand or even convince witnesses not to testify. Smith wrote Monday that “there is sufficient merit in these arguments to warrant a prohibition on broadcast/video electronic coverage of the trial. However,” Smith continued, “the Court does not believe that still photography should also be prohibited.” One pool photographer, who will share photos will all media outlets, will be stationed in the courtroom but may not photograph jurors, police informants, undercover agents or juveniles, or any trial exhibits. Either party can ask that a particular witness not be photographed and the judge can shut down the camera at any time, Smith ruled. Torres’s trial will be the third high-profile case in Fairfax in recent years to allow cameras in the courtroom. Both video and still cameras were permitted in the 2013 murder trial of Julio Blanco Garcia, and a still camera was allowed in the recent murder trial of Charles Severance. |