The judge in the case of a mother jailed for refusing to divulge her son's whereabouts has reopened media access to hearings -- but has barred The Sun because of what he called "its deliberate editorial decision" to violate a court order.
The dispute centers on the newspaper's Jan. 26 publication of a computer-enhanced likeness of the missing son of Jacqueline Louise Bouknight, who has been jailed for nearly seven years. The picture was released by the Baltimore Police Department, which is using the likeness to try to find the boy, Maurice.
In publishing the likeness, the newspaper carried a caption identifying the boy as "Maurice Bouknight." The caption was in error -- the boy does not share his mother's last name.
In a 13-page order issued yesterday, Judge David B. Mitchell, who presides over Baltimore's juvenile court and over Ms. Bouknight's case, said that publishing the likeness violated a court order granting The Sun access to proceedings. Juvenile court hearings and records normally are closed by state law. Moreover, he said, identifying the child by a last name, correct or not, violated a section of the access order that said the boy was to be referred to only as "Maurice or Maurice M."
James J. Doyle III, an attorney for The Sun, said the publication of a last name for the child was an unintentional error and that the newspaper had apologized for it. He said the judge's order did not bar the media from running a picture it had obtained outside the court.