A moment in the Ray Tensing case few people saw
Judge says media has turned trial 'into a circus'
During a break Friday, as jury selection was continuing in Ray Tensing’s retrial, his mother approached the mother of the man Tensing fatally shot during a 2015 traffic stop.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” she told Sam DuBose’s mother, Audrey DuBose. “I am so sorry.”
She wiped tears from her eyes. She took DuBose’s mother’s hand in hers. She said a few more words. Then they embraced.
“Thank you,” DuBose said.
It was an unexpected moment that happened out of view of the judge, potential jurors, prosecutors – even Tensing, himself. All had left the courtroom.
With extensive restrictions on media coverage imposed by the judge, there was no photographer to capture it. A video camera trained on Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Leslie Ghiz’s bench was not allowed to be moved.
The process of selecting jurors for the retrial will continue Monday. The pool of potential jurors began Friday at 171 and ended the day at 107.
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Much of Friday’s session included Ghiz and attorneys on both sides trying to determine if potential jurors would decline to serve if the questionnaires they filled out are eventually released to the media.
Assistant Prosecutor Seth Tieger sought to reassure them, saying he hoped that if the questionnaires are released, identifying information would be blacked out. The Enquirer and other media outlets do not publish juror names without their consent.
The Enquirer and other outlets sued Ghiz for a second time Friday over the restrictions she has imposed on media coverage. Among them: She won’t release the questionnaires, which typically are considered public under the First Amendment.
It’s not known when the appeals court will rule on the new lawsuit.
The First District Court of Appeals earlier this week sided with The Enquirer and other local media, saying Ghiz needed to hold an evidentiary hearing addressing her media restrictions. That hearing was held Thursday, then she imposed nearly all the same restrictions.
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On Friday, Ghiz lambasted the media, saying the trial had “turned into a circus, thanks to the media.”
“This is a court of law,” she said. “I think the media has forgotten that.”
She also called the media’s effort to bring transparency to the proceedings “offensive.”
She had previously explained that her restrictions were intended to ensure that Tensing receives a fair trial and that it remained in the county.
Media attorney Jack Greiner first requested a hearing with Ghiz regarding media access in January but the hearing didn't take place until May 18, only a week before prospective jurors were scheduled to fill out questionnaires.
Tensing’s attorney, Stew Mathews, on Friday joined prosecutors in asking to move the trial to another county, because of the extensive media coverage. Mathews previously wanted to keep the trial in Hamilton County. Ghiz said the request for change of venue would be taken under advisement.
Of the 107 potential jurors, it appears there are nine black women and eight black men. Ghiz has said she intends to seat 12 jurors and four alternates.
Tensing, a former University of Cincinnati police officer, is charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter in the 2015 fatal shooting, which happened as Sam DuBose tried to drive away from an off-campus traffic stop.
The first trial ended in November with the jury unable to reach a unanimous verdict.