Judge issues gag order in Santiago retrial

After intense coverage of the retrial of a man accused of killing a Philadelphia police officer in 1985, a judge yesterday imposed a gag order prohibiting attorneys and others from speaking to reporters about the case.

Wilfredo Santiago, 44, is charged with murder and possession of an instrument of crime in the slaying of Officer Thomas Trench, 43, who was found shortly after 2 a.m. May 28, 1985, shot twice and slumped in the front seat of his patrol car.

Common Pleas Court Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes said the gag order was necessary to ensure that a glaring spotlight would not jeopardize a fair verdict. The first verdict in 1986 - a conviction of Santiago - was thrown out.

"If you saw or heard any coverage on the Internet, broadcast or in print, alert me," Hughes said to the 16 jurors impaneled for the trial, which is expected to last two weeks. "It's very important that a verdict can only be grounded in evidence. Nothing else constitutes evidence."

During yesterday's hearing, Santiago sat next to three defense attorneys as witness Norman Genoy, a retired police crime-scene technician, said that none of the fingerprints lifted at the scene matched either palm or fingertip prints of Santiago.

But Assistant District Attorney Carlos Vega, using the door of Trench's squad car as an exhibit, elicited a response from Genoy that fingerprints would not have been left if the gun was fired through the open window of the left car door, which the prosecution alleges happened.

Five other witnesses testified, four of whom said they saw or heard that Santiago had a gun that day.

Two of the men who testified said they had fought with Santiago the day before the shooting.

Another witness testified that Santiago attempted to sell him a .38 snub-nosed pistol, which police said was similar to the weapon used in Trench's death.

In 1991, an appeals court ordered a new trial for Santiago, ruling that the trial judge acted improperly.