Maine

Duke University has withdrawn subpoenas seeking communications between a college professor who wrote about the North Carolina school's lacrosse scandal and the student athletes following an appeals hearing last week.

Duke lawyers dropped the subpoenas Friday before U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby could rule on whether a lower court’s decision to enforce the subpoenas should be overturned in Maine, where the professor lives. A lawsuit against the university stemming from the lacrosse case was also settled two days prior, making a portion of the subpoenas moot.

Maine’s highest court reversed a trial judge's decision and ordered jury selection to be public in a notable prostitution prosecution.

“A generalized concern that juror candor might be reduced if [jury selection] is conducted in public is insufficient . . . to bar the public or media from the entirety of the process,” according to the majority opinion, written by Chief Justice Leigh I. Saufley.

The trial court did not consider other less restrictive alternatives to closure that would still preserve the defendant’s rights, the opinion stated.

A Maine judge Monday ordered the release of the names of more than 100 men charged with hiring a prostitute but issued a temporary restraining order against the disclosure of some of the men’s addresses, causing confusion and leaving journalists unable to verify the identities of the defendants.

A federal court Sunday upheld a fine against a campaign consultant who anonymously produced a controversial political website that violated Maine’s campaign finance laws.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Torreson ruled that James Bailey’s website, “The Cutler Files,” was not excluded from Maine campaign finance laws under the statute's press exemption because it was not a “periodical publication.”

Two Maine newspapers filed an objection Friday to a proposed protective order in a prostitution case that would prevent the discussion and dissemination of evidence and progress of the case.

Recent changes in Maine’s Freedom of Access Act have funded an ombudsman position and improved access to public records under the law.

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Richard Rosen and signed into law last week by Gov. Paul LePage, is "a step forward" in the public's ability to access records in a system previously marked by confusion and poor organization, media advocates said.

A former candidate for the Maine State Senate could not show that negative advertisements about him by an out-of-state Republican organization, unaffiliated with his opponent, contained false statements that were made intentionally or with reckless disregard for their falsity, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston (1st Cir.) ruled earlier this month.

A new law in Maine restricts access to the birth, death and marriage records of state citizens, The Associated Press reported.

Gov. John Baldacci signed the law on April 2. Now, only the person on the document, their spouse, parents, descendants or designated agents have access to such records. Genealogists and researchers will also be granted access if they have a researcher identification card.