State Attorney Willie Meggs has filed a motion in Leon County Circuit Court to bar Carletha Cole and her attorneys from discussing with the press details of Cole's case. The gag order request, filed on Friday, comes in response to allegations by Cole that she walked in on Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll and another female aid in a sexually compromising position.
Carroll has dismissed the allegations as untrue.
Meggs said recent actions by Cole and her lawyers is making it difficult to prosecute the case against Cole, a former Carroll aide who was fired and faces charges of illegally leaking tape recorded messages to a Jacksonville reporter. Carroll is not a party in the case. "The efforts on the part of the defense to try this case in the media include an on camera interviews given by Mr. (Stephen) Webster (Cole's attorney) to a local news station on at least two separate occasions within the last week," Meggs wrote in his motion.
"The extensive media coverage in this case will effect both the State and the Defense=s respective rights to a fair trial here in Leon County."