Ex Parte Spears

Thomas Wayne Spears petitions for a writ of mandamus directing District Judge D.P. Scurlock III, sitting by designation as a circuit judge in the First Judicial Circuit, to grant Spears's motion for a new trial, under Rule 15.4, Ala.R.Crim.P., on his plea of double jeopardy. The writ is denied.

Spears was indicted for murder. Shortly after his trial began, one of the prosecuting attorneys made a comment to a reporter, in violation of a "gag order" restricting public comment concerning the case. That order had been imposed on the attorneys by presiding Circuit Judge Hardie Kimbrough. The…