VanHouten Media Coverage

A Cherokee County judge hands down his decision on media coverage of a Four State murder case. During a motions hearing in Columbus Kansas this afternoon, arguments were made concerning media coverage in the case of accused murderer James VanHouten. Attorneys for the defendant James VanHouten, the State of Kansas and various media outlets argued for an hour as to the motions filed by Columbus Kansas attorney Sam Marsh. Marsh was appointed as VanHouten`s attorney on March 20th during his appearance on 1st degree murder charges. Both before and after VanHouten`s appearance he admitted his intentions to plead guilty to the charges, comments you heard here on KSN. This afternoon, Marsh argued the airing of those comments and various other details of pre-trial information tampered with the jury selection process. Comments from Cherokee County attorney Joanna Derfeld and Kevin Mitchelson contended the media had done nothing wrong in their coverage of pretrial proceedings and should not be cleared from the courtroom.