Media barred from PI coach's arraignment

A Port Isabel municipal judge barred television and newspaper reporters from the courtroom during the arraignment Friday of a former Port Isabel high school assistant coach.

Joseph Andrew Sadler, 29, was arraigned for a charge of indecency with a child, a third-degree felony, and his bond was set at $20,000, Police Detective Armando Mora told the Island Breeze after the closed arraignment.

Municipal judge Helen Delgadillo allowed Sadler’s attorney and five to six other people to remain in the courtroom during the criminal arraignment. Television and newspaper reporters were restricted to the lobby outside the courtroom.

Delgadillo could not be reached for comment.

Sadler’s attorney, Noe Garza of Brownsville, left the building immediately after the arraignment without answering questions from the media.

“Closing a courtroom is a clear violation of the first amendment,” said John Bussian, media law attorney for Freedom Communications. “Only in extreme situations can closing a courtroom be justified.”

First amendment attorney Joel White, of Austin, said the judge’s act of closing the criminal proceeding to members of the public and media was illegal.

“It is not a violation of the Freedom of Information Act, but it is however illegal,” White said. “It is a violation of the code of criminal procedures in Texas, which is a very simple law. It says all proceedings in all courts shall be open. That applies only in criminal proceedings.”

White is a board member and immediate past president of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas.

“There are also numerous cases that say you can never close criminal proceedings in Texas to the public or the press,” White said. “Since it was a criminal case, it was unlawful for the judge to do this. Most laws are a little ambiguous, this one is not.”

Point Isabel Independent School District Superintendent Estella Pineda said Sadler resigned his teaching position with the district Thursday. The district web site had listed Sadler as an assistant football coach and head power lifting coach.

Sadler’s alleged misconduct involved a female student, Pineda said.

Sadler was arrested Thursday by Port Isabel police who had gathered “enough evidence to make the charge” after starting their investigation Wednesday, Police Chief Joel Ochoa told the Island Breeze Thursday.