State Ex Rel. Toledo Blade Co. v. Henry County Court of Common Pleas

{¶ 1} This is an original action for a writ of prohibition to prevent a common pleas court and its judge from enforcing a gag order prohibiting the media from reporting about the trial proceedings in one criminal case until a jury is impaneled in a separate criminal case. Because prohibition is an appropriate action to challenge the propriety of the gag order and that order was not supported by sufficient evidence to overcome its presumed unconstitutionality, we grant the writ.

Facts

{¶ 2} In State v. Jayme Schwenkmeyer and David E. Knepley, Henry Cty. C.P. No. 08-CR-0033, the state of Ohio…