Earlier this afternoon, I wrote about Billings Gazette editor Darrell Ehrlick’s decision not to print the charging documents in the assault case involving state Sen. Jason Priest, R-Red Lodge.
Ehrlick was called to account by Jim Romenesko, a national blogger who covers the media. Ehrlick refused to answer Romenesko’s questions, and of course the Gazette still has not posted the court documents in the Priest case. Ehrlick said he was afraid those documents “could paint Priest in a harsh light.”
They certainly do. There are serious allegations of assault, not to mention some very bad language. I can understand the Gazette’s being squeamish about those bad words, but if so, why not say so instead of pretending to want to protect the tender feelings of someone accused of a serious crime — a consideration that apparently has never come into play on the thousands of other occasions when the Gazette has printed such documents.
At any rate, those documents can be found below. They are displayed rather inelegantly, but this whole scanning business is new to the folks here at Last Best News.
