A judge has reserved his decision on whether he should restrict pretrial coverage in the case of three men accused of the murder of an off-duty policeman.Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Vinette Graham-Allen yesterday asked Justice Roy Jones to make an order limiting press coverage in the case against Stephen 'Die' Stubbs, Andrew 'Yogi' Davis and Clinton 'Russ' Evans.The men are expected to stand trial before Justice Roy Jones for the 1999 shooting death of Detective Constable Jimmy Ambrose on May 21, 2013.

Graham-Allen said freedom of the press must be balanced by the right of the accused to a fair trial.The DPP exhibited clippings from The Nassau Guardian, The Tribune, The Bahama Journal and The Punch that contained information about the case, which in her view could taint the potential jury pool and influence the testimony of prospective witnesses. Graham-Allen is also seeking an order suppressing the publication or broadcast of any images of the accused before the trial begins.'We are seeking to prevent or restrain anything further that may obstruct the course of justice," she said.

Referring to the excerpts from The Guardian and The Tribune, Graham-Allen said reporters misrepresented the proceedings on November 12, 2012, when the trial was supposed to start. All of the publications referred to Stubbs' prior conviction on drug conspiracy charges, which according to Graham-Allen was irrelevant to the current issue. On the morning of the scheduled November trial, she claimed that The Punch reported there were plans to sequester the jury to minimize the possibility of jury tampering, although there was no application before the court.She noted that all of the publications showed images of a single defendant, although three persons were named in the indictment.Lawyers for the defendants have supported the request for a gag order on pretrial coverage.

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