Judge seeks to silence key players in Zimmerman murder trial

Posted on March 21, 2019

*McLean County Judge Scott Drazewski has issued a gag order regulating what key players can say publicly in the high-profile Kirk Zimmerman murder case. (pool photo)*

By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – The McLean County judge presiding over the Kirk Zimmerman murder case is laying down the law about what trial participants can say to news reporters during the proceedings.

Judge Scott Drazewski filed a two-page gag order Thursday saying prosecutors, defense attorneys, their staff, agents, and experts risk a contempt of court finding if they grant interviews to the news media.

The order also covers court and law enforcement employees, and anyone expecting to testify or receiving subpoenas in the case.

Drazewski is forbidding trial participants from identifying jurors or witnesses. Also, they’re banned from offering opinions or comments outside the courtroom about the weight, value, or effect of witness testimony and exhibits.

They can talk publicly about only the most basic information like Zimmerman’s age, residence, job, family status, the charges against him, scheduling of court proceedings, trial results, and direct quotations from public records.

Zimmerman is accused of killing his former wife, Pamela Zimmerman, who died of multiple gunshot wounds at her office on Bloomington’s east side in November 2014.

Kirk Zimmerman is free on bond ahead of a trial expected to last all of next month, or perhaps even longer than that.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]

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