OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – The man accused of raping and murdering 13-year-old Madeline Soto appeared in court Thursday as his lawyers asked a judge to ban the public, including members of the press, from attending his pre-trial court hearings.
A public defender representing Stephan Sterns, 38, filed a motion last month requesting all pre-trial proceedings be closed in the sexual battery case. A similar motion was filed in Sterns’ separate homicide case earlier this month.
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The Florida Supreme Court has said there is a “strong presumption of public access” to trials, although judges do have the authority to close proceedings in limited circumstances.
“This case has been the subject of unprecedented and highly prejudicial publicity,” Sterns’ motion states. “At every court proceeding, however minor or inconsequential, there has been extensive coverage by the press as well as social media users on YouTube, TikTok, Twitter (now called X) and Facebook.”
Sterns' lawyers argued in court Thursday about the level of media coverage and attention on social media this case has received.
The judge said he would have a written order on the motion in 10 days.
Sterns’ pre-trial hearings will include testimony and discussion of evidence that may later be found inadmissible, according to the defense motion.
Those discussions could include Sterns’ statements to police, the medical examiner’s findings, and statements from minor children.
“Public dissemination of these items of evidence will prevent Mr. Sterns from receiving a fair trial,” the motion states.
Although the public defender’s office indicated it could later seek a change of venue to move the trial out of Osceola County, the motion claims Sterns cannot receive a fair trial in “most of the State of Florida.”
Sterns has pleaded not guilty to sexually battering and murdering Soto. He faces the death penalty if convicted of killing the teen.
A trial date has been set for May 5.
[WATCH “Justice for Madeline” our series on the Madeline Soto case]