A Muskogee County judge denied public access for a second day to a preliminary hearing for a man who faces six first-degree murder charges filed in connection with the deaths of his brother and five children.
District Judge Bret Smith rejected arguments made on behalf of the Muskogee Phoenix and the public that access to court proceedings is a First Amendment right guaranteed by U.S. Constitution. He said the interests of the children in a deprived-child matter, which Smith chose to hear concurrently with Jarron Dejaun Pridgeon's preliminary hearing, outweighed the public's right to attend the criminal hearing.
