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By Elizabeth Caldwell, Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK -- A media gag order issued last month by a judge in an accused juvenile shooter case is unconstitutionally broad and should be modified, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

Juvenile court Judge Stacey Zimmerman of Fayetteville issued the gag order in May limiting what could be reported about a shooting involving Michael Nichols, 12.

Nichols is charged with attempted murder in the May 11 shooting of Prairie Grove Police Sgt. Greg Lovett.

Zimmerman had ordered that no pictures taken of Nichols, Lovett or their families since issuance of the gag order be published.

She also prohibited publishing photographs of any other juvenile present in the courts building or entering or leaving the courts building.

"The breadth of the gag order leads us to conclude that the judge's order is a plain, manifest, clear and gross abuse of discretion," said the opinion written by Justice Robert Brown.

The 6-0 ruling, with Justice Ray Thornton not participating, was praised by media groups who had contested the gag order.

John Tull of Little Rock, lead attorney for the media groups, said he was satisfied with the Supreme Court ruling, but will be monitoring any revision Zimmerman makes.

"If she provides it along those perimeters (provided by the Supreme Court), I don't think there will be a problem," he said.

The petition was filed by The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas, The Associated Press, the Arkansas Press Association, the Northwest Arkansas Times, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and television station KFSM-TV in Fort Smith, which is owned by the New York Times Co.

Rusty Turner, managing editor of The Morning News, said he is happy with the ruling.

"Our purpose for doing this was to make sure the public would have access to information and news coverage that was determined by journalism professionals and not by a government agent," Turner said.

David Bailey, managing editor of the Democrat-Gazette, said the ruling almost tracks the language of the media's petition.

"It is a thunderous reaffirmation of the First Amendment," Bailey said.

Nichols and Lovett were wounded in an exchange of gunfire in a field near Nichols' junior high school, where Lovett served as a resource officer.

Zimmerman issued the gag order May 18 prohibiting the media from publishing the names or photographs of Nichols or Lovett or their families. After media groups protested, she modified it May 20 to say they could not publish photographs of Nichols, Lovett or their families taken after the May 18 hearing.

She later found the Democrat-Gazette in contempt for using photos taken after the hearing and fined it $100.

Tull said the Democrat-Gazette will be asking Zimmerman for a reconsideration of her contempt citation.

The Supreme Court said two points decide the issue of prior restraint for the court.

The first is that the juvenile proceedings were open to the public on May 18 and May 20. Zimmerman closed court proceedings May 25, but reopened them June 6 at Nichols' request.

The second point is that Nichols' photo already had been published before the May 18 gag order and was already in the public domain.

These facts led the Supreme Court to conclude "that the state policy in favor of confidentiality had already been substantially undermined."

The court added that the state had no overriding interest in keeping the media from taking and publishing additional photographs of Nichols.

The court said its own administrative order allows a judge to exclude photos in areas immediately adjacent to her courtroom, but the order "does not include public streets and sidewalks outside of the courthouse."

The court said the judge's order was too broad and constituted a prior restraint of the media.

"We've never disputed that the judge is free to control what goes on inside the courtroom," said Adam Liptak, attorney for the New York Times. "The problem is with her telling us what to do with information lawfully obtained outside the courtroom."

"It looks like the court has done the right thing," said Mark Hinueber, attorney for Stephens Media Group, which owns The Morning News.

Dennis Schick, executive director of the Arkansas Press Association, said "I'm pleased that the Supreme Court confirmed what we thought all along, and that is the media and the public had a right to this information."

Chris Lisle, attorney for the Northwest Arkansas Times, said, "the real issue is upholding the public's belief in the integrity of our system. The media is the arm of the public."