
7th Circuit Court Presiding Judge Jeff Davis has rejected the media's request to provide video, still camera, and audio coverage of the hearing for Charles Russell Rhines next week.
Since new rules for media coverage went into effect last year, no news organization in the western part of the state has been given the okay for audio or video recordings. However, there have been cameras allowed in Minnehaha county courtrooms, most recently in the Donald Moeller and Eric Robert execution hearings in October.
Under the court rules, the judge, the prosecutor, and the defense must all agree to allow cameras or audio recordings in a trial.
Judge Thomas Trimble will hear arguments on Rhines' latest appeal concerning South Dakota's execution method on Dec. 18 and 19.
Rhines was convicted and sentenced to death in January 1993 for the murder of 22-year-old Donnivan Schaeffer in Rapid City.