A very interesting legal issue has popped up in a big murder trial in this town:
A stockbroker was on trial for having murdered his ex-wife with a golf club in order to duck paying alimony. One complication was that the ex-wife had a boarder who was suffering from cancer, and who later killed himself. And, the medical examiner found DNA under the victim's fingernails, but none of the DNA matched the ex-husband's. Then his lawyers turned up an anonymous e-mail (sent to them) saying that a bunch of drug dealers had been on the way to kill the boarder because he welshed on paying them. Instead, when they arrived, they found the ex-wife, and killer her. The defendant's lawyers pressed to have it introduced in evidence, but the prosecutor objected, and the judge upheld the prosecutor.

Well, the prosecutor found out that the defendant's daughter sent the e-mail from an Internet cafe, after visiting her father in jail. So, the prosecutor added fraud and other charges against the defendant, and now wanted to have the e-mail introduced as evidence. This resulted in the trial being suspended for weeks while the lawyers and the judge hassled it out. Then the defense team suddely withdrew from the case, citing "conflict of interest." All of these shenanigans have been held in secret.

The local newspaper filed suit to have the judge open up the closed doors and reveal what's been happening. The prosecutor's ok with it. But the defendant's new lawyer (a public defender because he ran out of money, which is probably why his initial team quit) says it'll violate his client's right to a fair trial. The judge is on the verge of declaring a mistrial, which will deepen the secrecy.