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Gag Order Imposed In Faber Death Case

Gag Order Imposed In Faber Death Case image
Parent Issue
Day
28
Month
February
Year
1984
Copyright
Copyright Protected
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
OCR Text

Gag order imposed in Faber death case
 

By AMY SMITH
NEWS STAFF REPORTER

A Washtenaw Circuit Court judge has forbidden attorneys and police from discussing details of 17-year-old Machelle Pearson's murder trial.

Pearson Is accused of the Nov. 22 fatal shooting of Nancy Faber, 39, Ann Arbor speech therapist who taught in the Plymouth-Canton public school system.

The gag order, requested by assistant Public Defender Barry Gates, was granted by Judge Ross W. Campbell. A similar request was denied in December by 15th District Judge S.J. Elden.

Pearson’s trial date, originally scheduled for April 30, now has been rescheduled for May 14. The decision to delay the trial, according to court administrator Kenty Batty, “was an administrative one to insure that there were an adequate number of jurors given the fact that this particular case is going to require a significant increase in the number of jurors.

In his motion for a gag order, Gates cited several area newspaper articles in which police and Washtenaw County Prosecutor William F. Delhey connected Pearson with the murder of Faber.

"It is clear," Gates wrote, "that a situation has existed and still exists where the defendant is being tried in the newspaper and other media with the assistance of law enforcement personnel who have a sworn obligation to insure that the defendant receive a fair trial."

Persons free from the gag order include non-police witnesses who will testify in the case. Donald Faber, husband of the murder victim and chief editorial writer and columnist for the Ann Arbor News, is one of these.

Police discovered Nancy Faber's body in her car in the 1900 block of Green Road, a few blocks from the Kroger store that she had left 15 minutes earlier. She was shot once through the neck and died three days later without regaining consciousness.