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killings in an Annapolis court. But he has
also pleaded that he’s not criminally re-
sponsible for his actions, Maryland’s ver-
sion of the insanity defense. A trial will
determine whether he’ll be sentenced to
a state prison or to a maximum- security
psychiatric hospital.TIME has spent the past year chroni-
cling the aftermath of the Capital Ga-
zette shooting. We’ve trailed editors and
reporters on the job and in their homes.
The staff was featured in our 2018 Per-
son of the Year package on journalists
who serve as “The Guardians” of truth
while their work is under attack around
the world. A new TIME Studios film, di-
rected by photojournalist Moises Saman,
provides an intimate look at how staffers
continued to soldier on after witnessing
tragedy in their workplace and losing be-
loved colleagues and friends. The Capital
covered its own trauma, putting out the
next morning’s paper written and edited
by grieving staffers on the day of the mur-
ders. The work earned the Capital Gazette
a special citation from the Pulitzer Prize
board in April.
While coping with post traumatic
stress—not to mention the economic pres-
sures that have gutted vital local journal-
ism outlets around America— reporters
like Pacella continued to pound their
beats, covering the zoning meetings and
spelling bees that form the fabric of any
American community. When it is sched-
uled, they will also cover Ramos’ trial.
“This person obviously wanted to silence
us,” says Capital assistant editor Chase
Cook, lead writer on the deadline story
about the murders. “That’s never going
to happen.”
The Capital has emerged a symbol: of
press freedom, of the vitality of commu-
nity journalism, of the fight against gun
violence. “People have interpreted us,”
says Capital editor Rick Hutzell, “how
they see fit.”
There is a pattern after mass shoot-
ings, which Pacella’s statehouse testi-
mony fit in only too well: a moving plea
for change from a mass- shooting survi-
vor, followed by... no real change. The
gun- regulation bill stalled. Meanwhile,
shootings elsewhere made headlines:
Virginia Beach; El Paso, Texas; Dayton,
Ohio. None of it damped the resolve of
the newsroom. The staff has promised^
Editor Rick Hutzell, facing camera in bottom photo, and staff
on June 5 of this year. It was their first day in the new office
the Capital found after the shooting