The Journal-World on Friday asked the Kansas Supreme Court to overrule a local judge’s decision to prohibit the newspaper from publishing a sketch artist’s drawings of witnesses in a first-degree murder trial.

The newspaper is asking the Supreme Court to host an expedited hearing and decide the matter as soon as possible, in part because of its implications for the First Amendment, which protects the rights of freedom of the media.

“Any time the First Amendment is challenged, the media do and should react,” said Gerald L. Cooley, the newspaper’s attorney.

Judge Paula Martin this week ruled that the newspaper could not publish sketches of four prosecution witnesses – two adults and two juveniles – in the murder trial of carpenter Martin K. Miller of Lawrence. The Journal-World is using a sketch artist because Martin has barred cameras from the courtroom.

The dispute began Tuesday, when Martin ordered the Journal-World’s artist to stop drawing one of Miller’s children.

In a hearing Wednesday, Martin found that rules limiting photography of certain witnesses in the courtroom can be extended to include sketches. The Journal-World argues that court rules state nothing about sketches and that Martin’s decision is an illegal “prior restraint” of a First Amendment right.

By filing the petition for writ of mandamus directly in the Supreme Court, bypassing the Kansas Court of Appeals, Cooley said the Journal-World was acting under a constitutional provision that grants original jurisdiction to the state’s highest court in such proceedings.

On Friday, the newspaper filed three documents with the Supreme Court: a petition asking for Martin’s ruling to be overturned, a memorandum that sets out legal arguments and a request for an expedited hearing.

At day’s end, the court had taken no action.

“We feel very strongly that we’re in the right, and we hope that the justices will act expeditiously on this matter and grant our petition,” said Ralph Gage, chief operating officer of The World Company, which owns the Journal-World.

In a related matter, Martin rejected requests Friday from two defense witnesses who asked not to be sketched. When the judge’s secretary informed Cooley of Martin’s decision, she did not say which witnesses made the requests.