By Associated Press/KWGS News
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – Okla. Co. judge to allow televised trial
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) An Oklahoma County judge will allow the trial of a pharmacist charged with first-degree murder to be televised.
District Judge Tammy Bass LeSure ruled Thursday she will allow cameras inside her courtroom for the murder trial of 58-year-old Jerome Ersland.
Attorneys for several media outlets had argued in court filings the hearing should be open because of the tremendous publicity the case has generated.
Ersland is accused of gunning down a 16-year-old boy during an attempted robbery at the pharmacy in south Oklahoma City. Defense attorneys maintain the shooting was justified, but prosecutors say the teen was lying on the floor, unarmed and unconscious, when Ersland fired the deadly shots.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.