Hearing to rule on motion to be held Wednesday
Ahmad Bojeh, the man police accused of shooting three Midwest tourists in town to attend a car auction, is scheduled for a competency hearing Thursday at 10 a.m.
However, his defense team has filed a motion to close the hearing to the press and public.
The motion, filed Friday and shared to a number of local media outlets including the Osceola News-Gazette, cites rights under the First, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and an article to the Florida Constitution.
A hearing on the motion is scheduled for Wednesday at 11:45 a.m.
Bojeh, 29, was arrested hours after the shooting of Robert Luis Kraft, 70 of Holland, Mich., and Douglas Joseph Kraft, 68, and James Puchan, 68, of Columbus, Ohio on Jan. 17 outside a home in the Indian Point subdivision off Poinciana Boulevard.
The six-page motion, filed by Ninth Circuit Public Defender Melissa Vickers and signed by defense attorney Alesha Smith, asks for a “narrowly tailored closure” when Bojeh’s competency evaluations, medical records, diagnoses, treatment history, psychiatric medications and privileged communications will be discussed.
“At every court proceeding, there has been extensive coverage by the press, and it is anticipated that the press will continue to be active and aggressive in the coverage of all events and proceedings in this case,” the motion reads. “These health-related topics implicate privacy rights distinct from ordinary evidentiary matters and, if disclosed in open court, would cause irreparable harm to Mr. Bojeh’s privacy and fair trial interests.”
It cites a Florida statute that created a public records exemption for forensic behavioral health evaluation reports filed with the court, “Making them automatically confidential … As a result, these rules, the clerk will not make them available as public records without a court order.”
In order to maintain that confidentiality, the defense has proposed a “limited closure” confined to when such protected mental health content will be argued.
In June, the spouse of Douglas Kraft filed a negligence lawsuit Monday against the Indian Point Homeowners Association and the property’s New York owner Marte Marcel, stating they knew Bojeh to be “a violent, dangerous person with prior access to firearms,” but was negligent in ensuring the safety of those in the rented properties on that street.
The suit said the HOA and property owner knew law enforcement had been called multiple times for issues at Bojeh’s home.
Court dates set for May and June 2028 have been canceled as case management continues in the case.
