Defense Attorney Seeks Gag Order Against Burlington Police

An attorney representing a Burlington man with an extensive rap sheet has asked a judge to bar police from making any further public statements about his client while several court cases play out.

Public defender Joshua O’Hara requested the gag order this week in a motion that contends recent statements from Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad have threatened to undermine Michael Reynolds’ right to a fair trial.

Long notorious in Burlington, Reynolds was the subject of a 2017 Seven Days story about holes in the social safety net. But Reynolds’ troubles with the law have not abated: He has more than three dozen convictions — including six felonies — and is currently facing 20 charges, all filed last year. Burlington police say they have interacted with Reynolds nearly 2,000 times over the years.

In a phone call, O’Hara said Reynolds deserves a fair trial, “just like anybody else.”

Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George supported O’Hara’s request during a hearing on Tuesday, according to the defense attorney, who said he plans to file a joint motion with the prosecutor for a judge to consider in the coming days.

George, who has previously expressed concerns about the content of Burlington Police Department press releases, declined to comment on O’Hara’s motion, instead referring Seven Days to an audio recording of Tuesday’s hearing. A request for that is pending with the court clerk.

O’Hara, the supervising attorney at the Chittenden County Public Defender’s Office, said he has never requested such a gag order in more than 15 years of defense work.

He said he was compelled to do so after Burlington police issued a press release on December 30 that outlined a slew of interactions with Reynolds over the previous two weeks. They included an arrest at the University of Vermont Medical Center after Reynolds allegedly attempted to assault security guards. Police later learned Reynolds had broken into an occupied Burlington home earlier that day; a resident came out of the shower to find Reynolds hiding in a closet.

The press release also featured a lengthy statement from Murad, who argued that Reynolds must face harsher punishment for his actions.

“Reynolds has more police encounters than anyone else in our records management system—more than 1,850 entries,” Murad’s statement read. “More than 170 trespass notices have been filed against him by business proprietors, property owners, and social service providers. He has harmed huge numbers of people; he routinely endangers himself and others; and Burlington’s officers deal with him more than any other person.

“He has exhausted outlets of charity, treatment, or relief, and burned bridges with entities that seek to help the disadvantaged,” the statement continued. “We have an answer for this kind of violent, incorrigible, antisocial behavior: Vermont’s ‘habitual criminal’ statute.”

Under that statute, state prosecutors can seek enhanced penalties — including up to life in prison — against offenders who commit a felony after having been convicted of three previously.

Murad’s statement ran on local television stations. Then, on Monday, WBUR Boston’s “On Point” program quoted from the statement during a 45-minute segment that centered on the debate around involuntarily committing mentally ill people.

The nationally broadcast segment focused on Burlington’s woes and featured interviews with Mark Redmond, executive director of Spectrum Youth & Family Services, and former Burlington police chief Brandon del Pozo. The program included a lengthy discussion of Reynolds and his criminal history.

O’Hara’s gag order request argued that Murad’s statements violate the ethical guidelines to which state prosecutors — and by extension, their law enforcement partners — must adhere.

The chief’s comments have “no purpose aside from creating a substantial likelihood of public condemnation,” the motion read, and raise the likelihood of tainting a potential jury in “Chittenden County or elsewhere in Vermont, given the breadth of their distribution.”

Murad did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

George didn’t speak to Seven Days on Tuesday, but she did mention Reynolds in a statement to WCAX-TV last week.

“A significant majority of his charges are not violent, so I’m not sure the public needs protection from him,” George said told the news station. “The public needs him to be given significant services and resources that we don’t currently have, so his underlying trauma can be truly healed.”