An Osceola County judge has denied a motion by Stephan Sterns' defense team to close upcoming pretrial hearings in one of his cases.
Documents with details have yet to be released by the court; the only notice currently given is a line item in the docket.
Sterns has been charged with 60 counts of sexual battery, lewd and lascivious molestation and possession of sexual activity by a child in connection to the rape and murder of Kissimmee teen Madeline Soto. He is also charged with her murder, and his first-degree murder charge is expected to be heard in another case.
At a March 20 hearing, his defense team argued that the extensive worldwide coverage of the case, including on social media and the internet, would hinder or make impossible any attempt to provide jurors for a fair hearing, and that keeping those hearings open to the public and media would "give access to (evidence and such) the public normally wouldn’t have access to."
Among the many motions filed by Sterns’ defense, some involve ruling on the constitutionality of the death penalty as a defense, and the admissibility of evidence found on and through his phone; the defense said detectives’ may have acquired the phone without Sterns’ consent. Those would likely be heard during the hearings in question.
Legal counsel representing a number of TV and print outlets objected, noting what transpires in the courtroom is"public property,” and that "heightened public attention only increases the need for the appearance of fairness so essential to public confidence in the system."
Sterns' next pre-trial hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, April 23 at 9 a.m.; a Motion to Suppress hearing for 2 p.m. that day was added to the docket on Friday.
