Court won't disturb ban on death row interviews

[March 09, 2010]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court will not tinker with a federal prison policy that prohibits death row inmates from giving face-to-face interviews to reporters.

The justices on Monday turned down an appeal from David Paul Hammer, an inmate on the federal government's death row in Terre Haute, Ind. Hammer argued that the policy adopted after Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh appeared on "60 Minutes" in March 2000 is an unconstitutional violation of his free speech rights.

Twenty-three news media organizations also urged the court to hear the case.

Hammer's sentence has been thrown out, but he remains housed with other death-row prisoners while the government decides whether to seek to have him re-sentenced to death.

[Associated Press]

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