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February 16, 2015 - 9:30 AM
THE STORY YOU ALMOST DIDN'T GET TO READ
VERNON - Jason Paur, the former Seattle ski coach arrested for secretly filming young girls while on a school trip to Silver Star, pleaded guilty to three of the counts against him on Jan. 12, 2015. But we couldn’t tell you about that until today.
When Paur entered the guilty pleas, just three days before he was scheduled to go on trial, he also requested—and was granted—a publication ban on all information about the file, including his guilty pleas. While bans on publication of information from court proceedings are quite common, news media are typically allowed to report results and rarely do bans survive after a guilty plea.
But Paur's case is rare—if not unique—because Paur faces similar charges in the U.S. for essentially the same crime. His lawyer, Richard Barton, argued if Paur’s admission of guilt was publicized, his right to a fair trial in the U.S. would be compromised.
Provincial Court Judge Mark Takahashi sided with media representatives, including Infonews.ca, Global News and the Vernon Morning Star, which opposed the ban at a hearing Jan. 27 in Vernon Provincial Court. He affirmed long-held principles that court processes remain open to the public and Paur has an alternative of applying for an order banning Seattle media from reporting his guilty pleas.
Barton told the court Paur will be extradited to the U.S. following his sentence hearing in Vernon. Once there, it’s anticipated he will face a trial before a jury within 70 days. His U.S. charges include two counts of production and transportation of child pornography, and one count each of production of child pornography with intent to transport, possession of child pornography, and transportation of minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. Paur intends to plead not guilty on the Washington State charges.
Details of his crimes will be revealed at a future, undetermined date, when he is to be sentenced. Paur is currently awaiting the results of a Pre-Sentence Report before proceeding to a sentence hearing, where further details about the offense are expected to be heard. A different publication ban still in effect prevents us from printing the information heard at Paur's bail hearing in Feb. 2014.
The U.S. indictment alleges Paur secretly filmed female students between the ages of 14 and 17 on school trips to Silver Star Mountain in 2011, 2012 and 2013. The charges came after a group of students found a video camera hidden in their bedroom, positioned to tape them while they got dressed after showering.
For previous stories about Jason Paur, click here.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infonews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015