Judge reverses order on media in alleged surgeon rape case

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — A California judge on Tuesday reversed an order barring the media from reporting on search warrant documents in the case of a surgeon charged with sexual assault, a lawyer said.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregory Jones made the ruling after The Associated Press and an Orange County Register reporter argued that his earlier decision blocking them from publishing information they obtained legally outside the courtroom violated free speech rights, said Duffy Carolan, an attorney representing the media outlets.

"It was absolutely an order that violated the constitutional rights of the reporters in the courtroom who happened to come back for that afternoon session," she said.

Last week, Jones took journalists' copies of the documents saying they were sealed and barred them from reporting the contents. The reporters and other members of the media had received the copies from Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer at a press conference earlier in the day criticizing the district attorney's handling of the case against Dr. Grant Robicheaux.

Robicheaux, 38, and his girlfriend Cerissa Riley, 31, have pleaded not guilty to charges of rape, kidnapping and other crimes.

Authorities said the pair drugged and sexually assaulted women they met at social events in Southern California. Authorities said once the women were intoxicated, the couple brought them back to Robicheaux's Newport Beach home and sexually assaulted them.

The couple is charged with crimes against five alleged victims and possession of cocaine, ecstasy and the drug DHB. Robicheaux —who once appeared in a reality TV show called "Online Dating Rituals of the American Male" — is also charged with crimes against two additional victims and illegal possession of two assault weapons.