Seems like the court of public opinion was too harsh for the prosecutors trying to charge 14-year-old Jared Marcum with obstructing an officer, as they attempted to file a gag order on the case.
The West Virginia student could face jail time for refusing to take off his NRA t-shirt at school. He was summoned to the Logan County Courthouse on Monday, two weeks before his scheduled court date, for an emergency gag order hearing requested by prosecutors Christopher White and Sabrina Deskins.
Marcum, who is facing the possibility of up to a year in jail and a $500 fine for the charge of obstructing an officer, was not scheduled to be back in court until July 11.
Marcum’s attorney Ben White said the prosecution filed the gag order motion, “because, seemingly, they want to take it out of the court of public opinion.”
Prosecutors were attempting to bar Marcum, his father and lawyer from talking to the press.
“It was for Jared’s better interest is what I was told, which seems to be a bit odd to me,” Marcum’s father Allen Lardieri told CBS affiliate WOWK. “These are the same individuals that are trying to prosecute him, so as far as them knowing what is in his better interest — I have a lot of questions about that.”
But the story acquired another twist when a reporter covering the trial attempted to sit in on the proceedings. He was threatened with arrest for obstructing an officer — the same charge that Marcum is facing.
Charlo Greene, a reporter for WOWK, attempted to petition the gag order hearing, but judge Eric O’Briant instructed the baliff to throw her out of the court twice. Greene was then threatened with arrest under the charge of obstructing an officer.
The prosecutors eventually withdrew their petition, but they did it under one condition: Lardieri had to waive the confidentiality agreement barring the prosecution from speaking freely about the case of a minor.
Marcum will still be back in court on July 11, and his attorney says he will continue trying to get these charges thrown out.
