Houston defense attorney Dick DeGuerin will not be held in contempt after being accused of violating a gag order by the Harris County District Attorney's Office, his attorney said after a hearing, according to Fox 26 Houston. Brian Weiss said there was no finding of contempt, and that a meeting with Judge Peebles produced an agreement, now under advisement, to strike the paragraph of the court order that barred the lawyers from speaking to the media. DeGuerin represents Lee Gilly, who is accused of killing his wife and unborn child before fleeing the country to Italy. A hearing on Gilly's request for asylum in Italy is set for August 19.
Well-known Houston attorney Dick DeGuerin, who is representing murder suspect Lee Gilly, had been accused of violating a gag order by the Harris County District Attorney's Office, according to Fox 26 Houston. His own attorney, Brian Weiss, spoke after a hearing on the matter.
Weiss said that what everybody needs to know is that there was no finding of contempt, period, the station reported. He said that had been the headline over the previous six days, but that it did not happen.
Weiss said that he and Josh Reese, representing the district attorney's office, met with Judge Peebles in chambers and had a thoughtful, substantive discussion about the terms and conditions of the court order, according to Fox 26 Houston.
The judge is taking under advisement the parties' agreement to strike paragraph two of the court's order, which had precluded any statement at all from the lawyers of the parties to the media, the station reported. As a result, DeGuerin has some leeway to continue to speak about the case.
The station also reported that there will be a hearing on August 19 regarding Lee Gilly's request for asylum in Italy.
Italy has banned the death penalty and does not allow imprisonment without the possibility of parole, according to Fox 26 Houston. For that reason, the station reported, Gilly is not being sent back to the U.S. to face trial, where under his capital murder charge he would face the death penalty if convicted.
Gilly is accused of killing his wife and his unborn child and then fleeing the country, getting to Italy by way of Canada, the station reported. According to Fox 26 Houston, he did so after cutting off an ankle monitor and obtaining forged documents under a different name.