Mistrial in the Tory Bowen/Pamir Safi rape case

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On my WordPress blog a few weeks ago I wrote about Tory Bowen, Pamir Safi and the ruling made by a judge that Bowen could not use the word "rape" in her testimony against Safi. Bowen alleges that Safi raped her while she was asleep, and his first trial ended in a hung jury. His second trial was just about to begin, but...

According to the AP, via the New York Times:

Filed at 10:00 a.m. ET

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Before a jury was even seated, a judge declared a mistrial in a sex-assault case where he had barred the words ”rape” and ”victim.”

Judge Jeffre Cheuvront of Lancaster County District Court said protests and other publicity surrounding the rape case against Pamir Safi, 33, would have made it too difficult for jurors to ignore everything they heard before the trial, which had been expected to begin next week.

The trial will be continued at an as-yet-unspecified time and possibly in another county.

A question: Should those of us who want to see a trial occur stop blogging/speaking/writing about this for fear of tainting the process? Or is speaking up about these complicated issues a responsible thing to do because it may help educate potential jurors and give them new perspectives that might help them in making just decisions?

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