The city of Aurora, Co., has asked the judge overseeing the theater shooting murder case to think about lifting a gag order, the Denver Post reports. The city argues the gag order is no longer necessary after prosecutors presented evidence and testimony at a hearing in the case last week. Prosecutors played two 911 calls during the hearing and put many police officers on the witness stand to talk about the case.
“Because extensive law enforcement testimony has now revealed the parameters of many details of the State’s case against Defendant, the City requests that this Court consider whether its proscription against public extrajudicial statements by law enforcement” is moot, the city says. Aurora police officers have received numerous requests from other law-enforcement agencies since the July 20 shootings to talk about the department’s response to the shootings as part of training lectures. The motion says lifting the gag order would not harm the investigation or the court case “because the evidence has already been revealed to millions of people worldwide.”