The Nation - News from April 5, 1988

A judge in Rutland, Vt., bowed to objections from news organizations and lifted a news media gag order during jury selection at the cocaine-sale trial of John A. Zaccaro Jr., son of former vice presidential candidate Geraldine A. Ferraro. Zaccaro, 24, is charged with selling a quarter gram of the drug to an undercover officer two years ago while a senior at Middlebury College. Judge Francis McCaffrey, after a meeting with attorneys, imposed a gag order and said only six reporters could attend jury selection and they could not publish reports during the process. But, after a hearing on a challenge from news organizations, McCaffrey lifted the gag order. He still limited to six the number of reporters who would be allowed in the courtroom.