HARRISBURG — Dauphin County Judge Richard Lewis today denied a defense motion to ban the use of "Twitter" from his courtroom during the trial of former state Rep. Mike Veon and three co-defendants.
Lewis said preventing news snippets known as "tweets" would constitute "an impermissible prior restraint on speech protected by the First Amendment."
Attorney Mike Palermo, representing Veon's former district office manager Annamarie Peretta-Rosepink, had requested the ban.
Veon was the number 2 ranking leader in the House Democratic Caucus until voters ousted him in 2006. He, Rosepink, his former aide Brett Cott, and Stephen Keefer, the former director of the Democrats' information technology department, face charges of theft, conspiracy and conflict of interest. They're accused of using public resources for campaigns.
Testimony is scheduled to begin Feb. 1. The trial is expected to last several weeks.
Lewis ordered prospective witnesses to refrain from following any news coverage about the trial for 24 hours before their scheduled appearances.
