Judge William Martin has granted a motion for a gag order on the participants in the Matthew Darby rape trial. Darby is the Greensburg man accused of raping his ex-girlfriend, an IUP student, last April. He is also charged in Allegheny County with the brutal beating death of another ex-girlfriend, Alina Sheykhet, at her apartment near the University of Pittsburgh last October.
The judge yesterday ruled that the gag order will apply to all parties involved in the case, including the attorneys and their representatives, the defendant and his family, law enforcement officers, the victim, her family, and any potential witnesses for either the defense or prosecution.
The judge will reserve ruling on a defense request for a change of venue for Darby’s trial, waiting until after the questioning of potential jurors.
No trial date has been set here in Indiana County, nor in Allegheny County, where Darby is charged not only with Sheykhet’s murder, but in separate cases with the rape of a 17-year-old girl and with criminal trespass.
