Judge rejects motion to explore leaks in Markoff case

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

A Suffolk Superior Court judge has rejected a defense motion demanding information about alleged leaks to the media about the grand jury that indicted Philip Markoff, the former medical student accused of killing a woman he met through Craigslist.

Philip Markoff, 23

Defense attorney John Salsberg had questioned the integrity of the grand jury process and urged the court to compel prosecutors to explain what they knew about the source of leaks to the media in the highly publicized case. The leaks included details of evidence seized at Markoff's Quincy apartment, his use of his own name to set up an e-mail account, and information from crime scenes in Warwick, R.I., and the Copley Marriott in Boston.

In a written decision, Judge Frank M. Gaziano rejected the motion because despite the media coverage, the defense "has not … pointed to any facts suggesting that grand jurors were influence by feelings of bias or prejudice."

"Moreover, the defendant has not demonstrated that the indictments were improperly based on feelings of 'hatred or malice,' as opposed to indictments properly returned after the grand jury considered evidence that the defendant committed the charged crimes," Gaziano wrote in the order dated July 13.