Luka Magnotta’s murder trial won’t be televised, Quebec judge rules

It comes as no surprise, really, that accused murderer Luka Magnotta's trial won't be televised.

The last case the justice system wants to road test the idea of live televised trials would be that of Magnotta, a one-time stripper and porn actor accused of killing a university student, cutting him up and mailing parts of his body across Canada.

"The danger [is that media] will get into sensationalism," said Robert Pidgeon, associate chief judge of the Quebec Superior Court, according to QMI Agency. "It scares me. Having to testify in court is already intimidating for witnesses and victims."

Magnotta, 31, is scheduled to be tried in September for first-degree murder and other counts related to the death and dismemberment of Jun Lin, a Chinese student studying in Montreal, in May 2012.

The case is already highly charged, given the nature of the crime. Video alleged to be of the murder itself showed up on the Internet.

[ Related: Judge allows search for evidence in Magnotta case in Europe ]

Lin's torso was found in an alley not far from Magnotta's apartment. Other parts were mailed to the offices of politicians and to a school in British Columbia. Lin's head was found in Montreal park.

Magnotta was arrested in Berlin after an international manhunt.

Public interest in the case has waxed and waned as it's moved through the courts. He's attracted his share of ghoulish fans, though some, like this woman blogger named Lexa, quickly became disenchanted with Magnotta and the strange fans he's attracted.

"For me, I have chosen to redirect my support and sympathy to those who deserve it, in this case Jun Lin and his family," Lexa wrote in December 2012.

But dormant interest is bound to ramp up as the case goes to trial and it will be heavily covered by media. Coverage of the case will be pretty old-school: Reporters dodging out of the courtroom to file stories or do TV standups on the courthouse steps.

Social media will be constrained. The court system last year banned Twitter and other electronic communication from inside courtrooms unless a judge consents, the Globe and Mail reported last April.

“It is prohibited to broadcast or communicate text messages, observations, information, notes, photographs, audio or video recordings from inside the courtroom to the outside,” says the directive issued by a tribunal of judges.

The rules for courts elsewhere in Canada vary but many judges allow tweeting, texting and emails as long as they're not disrupting proceedings.

Television is another matter.

[ Related: B.C. drops plan to televise Vancouver riot trials ]

The Supreme Court of Canada provides a live feed of all appeals it hears to the parliamentary press gallery, with the video available for broadcast with permission.

But judges and many lawyers have balked at televising trials, worried that witnesses may be intimidated or that lawyers would be tempted to play to the camera.

Proponents have argued televised access would give the public a window into the justice system, but critics say TV news shows likely would broadcast only the sensational bits and not provide the necessary context.

As CBC News noted back in 2010, there have been requests to bring cameras into other high-profile trials, such as former Saskatchewan cabinet minister Colin Thatcher's murder case and former B.C. premier Glen Clark's breach-of-trust trial.

The B.C. Supreme Court granted permission for TV cameras to record final arguments in a 2011 hearing about the constitutionality of Canada's polygamy law. The judge allowed cameras to record and broadcast the lawyer's closing statements, subject to a 10-minute delay, CBC News said.

The U.S. and many other countries have embraced televised trials – most notably this week the sensational Oscar Pistorius murder case, which the Globe reports has its own dedicated 24-hour TV channel.

But Canada keeps wrestling with the idea. Lawyers Weekly noted in 2011 that after a pilot project that webcast 21 hearings before the Ontario Court of Appeal, the project's authors recommended changing the law to permit cameras access to the courts. So far that hasn't happened.

In B.C., media can apply to broadcast proceedings of individual cases, Lawyers Weekly said. Permission, though is rarely granted.

And it's unlikely it would be allowed in a case as notorious as Magnotta.

It's more likely cameras will make inroads in lower-profile cases to allow everyone to get comfortable with having them inside the courtroom. But don't expect them to become routine fixtures in Canada's conservative judicial system.