Burleson County Tribune, March 29, 2007
P. 1

Appeals court rules against Towslee Corbett on gag order

A state appeals court has ruled against District Judge Reva Towslee Corbett in a gag order she imposed last year in the Anthony Graves capital murder case.

The order, issued in September of 2006, restricts all defense attorneys, prosecutors, witnesses and Graves from talking to the media while the case is pending.

This applied to pre-trial proceedings and the new trial.

Graves and Robert Carter were convicted in 1994 in the August 18, 1992 murders of Bobbie Davis, her 16-year-old daughter and four grandchildren.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that the state withheld two statements made by Carter that they believe might have changed the jury's mind.  They ordered a new trial, and the case is now pending before Towslee Corbett.

The 10th Court of Appeals on Wednesday, March 21, ruled for Graves' defense attorneys that Towslee Corbett's gag order should be overturned within 14 days.

As of Tuesday, March 27, the gag order remained in effect.

Graves' attorneys appealed her decision, saying it violated Graves' right to free speech outlined by the U.S. and the Texas Constitutions.

"By this opinion, we do not hold that the circumstances of Graves' case will not support the issuance of a gag order," the opinion states.

However, the court's ruling said there was not evidence in the record supporting the findings necessary for a gag order, and her order did not "contain sufficiently specific findings for such an order."

Towslee Corbett "committed a clear abuse of discretion by issuing a gag order without making sufficiently specific findings to support a prior restraint on Graves' right to free expression..."