Associated Press
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Florida newspaper has appealed a judge’s order that it remove transcripts of telephone conversations from a story on its website about a jailhouse “snitch” and his frequent trial testimony.
Martin Reeder, attorney for The Palm Beach Post, told the 4th District Court of Appeal in documents filed late Thursday that Palm Beach Circuit Judge Jack Schramm Cox’s order is improper prior restraint on the paper’s First Amendment right to publish information.
Cox ruled that publication violates Frederick Cobia’s right to privacy.
First Amendment attorneys say the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled there are few instances in which a judge can block a newspaper from publishing information.
The story detailed how Cobia bragged in the recordings about getting incriminating information from other jail inmates, including some accused of murder.
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