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# Lawyer attempts to stifle media
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/lawyer-attempts-to-stifle-media/
- Published: 2003-11-25T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T03:16:08.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Crime, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Reporting of SM jury trial results in stolen newspapers*

*By Daily Press staff*

Although no one involved in the case claimed responsibility, it appears one of the plaintiff’s attorneys took the papers so jurors wouldn’t see it.

As the verdict was read during a jury trial in Judge Lorna Parnell’s courtroom, a woman who described herself as a friend of one of the plaintiffs was spotted clutching a large stack of the Daily Press on her lap. After the verdict, she passed out the papers to jurors.

Asked where she got the papers, the woman said she was given them by plaintiff’s attorney Carlos Lloreda, who earlier had asked articles not be run in the Daily Press until the verdict was delivered, for fear that a mistrial may be called.

The woman assured a reporter that Lloreda had paid for all of the papers.

As Daily Press readers know, this paper is free. Taking newspapers is considered a deliberate attempt to stifle the press and limit free speech.

The woman was later overheard telling Lloreda she had “ratted” him out.

Though he didn’t deny giving the papers to her, Lloreda told us he didn’t — and wouldn’t — take them. He said he was given the stack of papers by a family member involved in the case.

Lloreda refused to identify which family member took the papers, but said it was important to do because otherwise jurors may have read the article and Judge Parnell could have declared a mistrial, forcing the case to begin again from scratch.

Jurors are instructed not to discuss cases with any outside sources or consider any outside information. Media outlets regularly report on ongoing trials that are of interest or are important to citizens and the community.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 25, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/112503.pdf?ref=smdp.com)