Fort Worth's Mayor and a city council member will be in court today to face contempt charges from a judge wants to know why they were publically talking about a high profile murder case after he told them not to.
A judge in the trial of former Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean had issued a gag order that prohibited those involved in last month's trial from talking about it before the entire case was over. That included mayor Mattie Parker and Fort Worth city councilman Chris Nettles.
But after the jury found Dean guilty of the lesser included charge of manslaughter, and before the sentence was imposed, both issued public statements. That resulted in Judge George Gallagher ordering both in court to explain why they did that.
If the judge finds them in contempt both are subject to a scolding, a fine or more. But it would be unlikely they could face some time in jail.
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