ST. LOUIS – Jason Stockley, a former St. Louis police officer charged in a fatal shooting after a police chase in 2011, is waiving his right to a jury trial in favor of a bench trial in front of Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson.

Stockley’s murder trial is set to begin July 31. He is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the December 2011 shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith, 24, at the end of a chase.

Wilson issued on Thursday an order prohibiting “broadcasting, televising, recording and photographing” the trial in response to a request to televise the trial by the Law Newz Network.

Stockley’s attorneys and St. Louis prosecutors opposed the request, Wilson said.

Broadcasting the trial, Wilson said, “would materially interfere with the rights of the parties to a fair trial.”

The jury was to be sequestered at a secret location for the trial, which is expected to take up to two weeks.

The judge in May also issued a gag order in the case on parties, attorneys and witnesses “to protect the due process rights of the defendant and particularly his right to an impartial jury.”

Stockley, 36, who was living in Texas before he was charged last year, resigned from the police department in August 2013.

Source: http://www.stltoday.com