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Judge in Craigslist case considers request for prosecution disclosure

E-mail|Link|Comments () June 23, 2009 06:38 PM

By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff

A Suffolk County Superior Court judge is considering a request by the defense for alleged Craigslist killer Philip Markoff to force prosecutors to answer whether the grand jury process that resulted in Markoff's indictment was somehow tainted.

Judge Frank Gaziano took the defense's motion under advisement after a hearing this afternoon.

John Salsberg, Markoff's attorney, filed a motion Monday asking prosecutors to detail what steps they took to protect the grand jury from getting any "extraneous information" from the media and asking what prosecutors knew about leaks to the media as the high-profile case unfolded.

Markoff, a 23-year-old former Boston University medical student, is accused of murdering a New York woman he met through Craigslist. The case generated headlines and debate over Craigslist's policies.

In other action, Gaziano denied a defense motion to impound the notice of discovery, a list of evidence gathered by prosecutors that is provided to the defense.

Salsberg also asked for permanent impoundment of the warrant used to search Markoff's apartment. Gaziano asked prosecutor Edmond Zabin to find out when the current impoundment of the document will expire.

"I'm not going to issue any blanket orders to impound documents. I think that would be a violation of the First Amendment," Gaziano said.