Newspapers fighting closure of Jordan Brown juvenile trial

PITTSBURGH

Attorneys for three western Pennsylvania newspapers have argued to the Pennsylvania Superior Court that the media and general public have a constitutional right to attend a juvenile court murder trial for a boy who was just 11 when he was charged with shooting his father’s pregnant fiancée.

But the boy’s defense attorney is trying to convince the same three-judge panel that a Lawrence County judge didn’t abuse his discretion under a law that allows the court to close trials for juveniles under 12.

Attorneys for the New Castle News, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Jordan Brown, the Wampum, Pa., boy who is now 14, spent about a half-hour arguing their positions before the appeals panel in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. A decision isn’t expected for weeks or months.