Ban on Airing Stalker Case Names Lifted

Reversing his previous orders in the case, a judge on Wednesday ruled that news agencies cannot be restrained from publishing or broadcasting the names of several alleged victims of accused Night Stalker Richard Ramirez.

The Los Angeles Times, Herald Examiner and NBC had sought the reversal by Los Angeles Municipal Judge James F. Nelson on the grounds that the press cannot normally be restrained from publishing information it has received in an open court hearing.

In seven instances during Ramirez’s ongoing preliminary hearing--most of them involving victims of sexual attacks--Nelson has issued prohibitions against the publication of victims’ names. Most news organizations generally refrain from publishing the names of victims of sexual attacks.

A Times lawyer, Jeffrey S. Klein, said the court action was taken as a matter of principle, rather than to disclose the victims’ identities.

“I think the judge realized that the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in this area compelled him to reverse his earlier orders against the press,” Klein said. “It was important to remind the court that it doesn’t have the right to tell the press what it can and cannot publish.”

Nelson ruled that the name of one rape victim remain secret. The prosecution said it feared that the woman, because of religious convictions, would commit suicide if her identity were disclosed.