Puerto Rico’s House of Representatives on Thursday, October 15, approved House Bill (PC) 1211 and PC 1447, which would prohibit live broadcasts of probable-cause-for-arrest hearings and preliminary hearings, the stages before trial. PC 1447 would also bar broadcasting hearings that decide whether evidence is admissible in criminal proceedings. PC 1211, by Rep. Gabriel Rodríguez Aguiló, continues to the Senate.
It would add a clause to Rule 8 of the Rules of Criminal Procedure expressly banning real-time transmission or publication, by any media, digital platform or social network, of probable-cause hearings. Currently, courtroom broadcasts and press camera access require authorization from the Supreme Court. Rodríguez Aguiló said the measure targets stages before an impartial jury is chosen and does not respond to any particular case; a trial itself could be broadcast in full.
Rep. Héctor Ferrer Santiago, Popular Democratic Party (PPD) spokesman, proposed excluding corruption cases from the ban, backed by the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) and Proyecto Dignidad, but the New Progressive Party (PNP) majority defeated it. Ferrer Santiago said broadcasts also showed the Independent Special Prosecutor’s Panel Office was fabricating cases. Rep. José "Che" Pérez Cordero, co-author and chair of the Judiciary Committee, called the political tone opportunistic and said the bill protects the right to a fair trial and presumption of innocence.
PIP spokesman Denis Márquez Lebrón backed it. Press groups had warned at hearings of a threat to press freedom; the bill’s backers said journalists could still attend court. The House also passed PC 994, by Rep. Jorge Navarro Suárez, letting courts order an ignition interlock device, for at least 180 days, after a first DUI conviction.