A judge on Wednesday walked back an order barring members of the media and the public from the jury selection process in a death penalty case headed to trial next month.

Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski issued a new order that restricts what information regarding empaneled jurors can be published. But the new order allowed for jury selection to be reopened Wednesday in the case of the 2016 shooting in Wilkinsburg that killed five adults and an unborn child.

Attorney Adam Tragone, of Strassburger, McKenna, Gutnick and Gefsky, argued and intervened on behalf of the Trib to object to the order closing jury selection.

“There is no compelling interest that vitiates access,” Tragone argued. “The purpose of this process is to be fair and just. Closing (proceedings) infringes on that right.”

Ok, here we go. New order re: jury selection. It’s pretty much exactly what Trib and PG attorneys drafted yesterday (except this one isn’t handwritten on a legal pad). pic.twitter.com/wbOSJhwxBf

— Megan Guza (@meganguzaTrib) January 8, 2020

Borkowski closed the proceedings Tuesday with a terse order from the bench, saying a juror chosen during Monday’s selection process called his tipstaff and was “extremely upset,” indicating they had been contacted by “friends, family members and co-workers asking if this juror was empaneled in this case.”

The juror was one of two selected Monday ahead of the trial of Cheron Shelton and Robert Thomas, who are charged in the slayings. The trial is set to begin Feb. 3.

The new order reads, in part: “For purposes of this case only, no one shall disseminate the name, address, telephone number, place of employment or school/educational institution of any prospective or empaneled juror” or other information that would easily identify them.

“It’s extremely significant,” Tragone said of the judge’s revised order. “Now it allows the First Amendment protections to be in place for this trial for the media and for the public as well. The public has a right to be here. The Supreme Court of the United States has said so on numerous occasions.”

Deputy District Attorney Michael Streily also argued in favor of reopening the proceedings, saying there was no real or tangible threat to the juror who took issue with the media coverage. The juror’s uncomfortableness is subjective, he said.

“One juror’s subjective belief cannot keep the public out of the proceedings,” he said.

Tragone echoed that sentiment.

“We made arguments that the concerns raised by the juror, while they were important concerns, they don’t outweigh the First Amendment right to newsgather and to cover this proceeding generally,” he said. “There were no particularized or direct concerns on that particular juror’s safety.”

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