Rodman asks judge to keep Court TV from his trial

Kim Smith

Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2001 | 9:19 a.m.

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman doesn't want Court TV to air the trial that will begin against him this week in Clark County District Court.

Rodman filed a motion Monday to close the trial to the cable network. The motion argues to District Judge James Mahan that Rodman is being sued by a Mirage craps dealer only because of his celebrity status and to air the trial "will create a Jerry Springer-like atmosphere."

The motion goes on to say that the media has no constitutional right to broadcast, record or photograph court proceedings.

Rodman's Las Vegas attorney, J. Randall Jones, will formally ask Mahan Wednesday morning to bar Court TV from the courtroom. Jury selection in the case is expected to begin Thursday.

The craps dealer, James Brasich, filed a lawsuit against Rodman in 1998, claiming the 6-foot-7, 228-pound Rodman repeatedly rubbed his bald head, stomach and groin with dice before rolling them.

Brasich is seeking $300,000 in compensatory and punitive damages for "substantial humiliation, embarrassment, indignity, degradation and anger ... (over) such despicable conduct."