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Page 4 · column 1 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
In a letter to the editor, Mr. James DeBergh, Jr. takes the Rappahannock News to task for reporting the contents of the closed records in the Kidwell case on last week’s front page.
Mr. DeBergh accuses the News of playing politics and attempting to influence the outcome of the upcoming election. Nothing could be further than the truth.
Mr. DeBergh and maybe others have a mistaken idea about what is and is not a reportable story. The Rappahannock News is not the National Inquirer; we do not go with unidentified informants, rumors, supposition, half-truths.
We know that plenty were flying around on the topic of what that sealed record in the Kidwell case contained. We know that Mr. DeBergh had heard part of those unsubstantiated rumors; he testified to that fact during his questioning as a prospective juror in the recent trial. We know also that those rumors circulated despite Judge Thomas Horne’s strict gag order placed on EVERYONE involved in the case and despite his warnings that ANYONE leaking information faced not just a contempt citation but jail.
Obviously, with that warning, no one connected with the case was going to talk for the record. And we know from experience that those speaking off the record aren’t quite as careful with facts as they are when speaking for attribution.
In addition, who knew the complete story? According to the sealed record, only Judge Horne, defense attorneys John Dowd and Rodney Leffler, special prosecutor Steven Merril, defendant Diane Kidwell and the commonwealth’s attorney from Loudoun County were present during the entirity of the two closed hearings. They weren’t talking—not on the record and not off the record. Any other source knew only part of the story.
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