DURHAM — A judge told lawyers on both sides of the Duke lacrosse case Monday to throttle back on their public comments or face contempt-of-court charges.

Superior Court Judge Kenneth C. Titus issued the publicity restraints after citing extensive coverage in the local, state, national and international media.

Titus said comments about potential evidence have been made by District Attorney Mike Nifong, the defendants, their lawyers and others.

Without condemning anyone for past statements, Titus said future disclosures could make it difficult to find jurors “free from partiality, bias and prejudice.”

If more disclosures occur, the lawyers responsible might be subject to contempt-of-court proceedings, the judge warned.
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Of the judge’s remarks on public comments, some lawyers said they didn’t consider themselves gagged. He exempted media comments permitted by the N.C. State Bar’s Revised Rules of Professional Conduct.

Among other things, the rules allow attorneys to disseminate information contained in public records, and to rebut potentially damaging statements by prosecutors or others.

Defense lawyer Joe Cheshire said Monday he and others did nothing wrong when they recently held two news conferences to say DNA testing failed to implicate any Duke lacrosse players in an alleged rape.

Nifong previously had predicted that the DNA analyses would be incriminating.

“It would not have precluded us from doing a single thing we have done so far,” Cheshire said of Titus’ new order. “This is not a gag order.”

Cheshire represents David Evans, one of three lacrosse players under indictment for the allege rape.

“He [Titus] just wants to remind us that we should only make statements in response to statements the prosecutor has made,” Cheshire said. “I clearly don’t think it was an admonishment.”

Lawyer Wade Smith, who represents another of the three players, Collin Finnerty, agreed.

“It was the appropriate thing for the judge to say,” Smith told reporters. “We’re not offended in the least. He was just reminding us to be very careful about what we say. We’ve been doing that. We’ll continue to do that.”

Nifong had no comment.
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