Sealed cases

The lawyer for a California dentist on trial for allegedly fondling more than a dozen patients conceded this week that his request to totally exclude press and public from the trial was "not legally sustainable," The Sacramento Bee reports.

A California dentist on trial for allegedly fondling more than a dozen patients has moved to exclude the press from the entirety of his trial, the Sacramento Bee reports.

Michael Rothschild, attorney for defendant Mark Anderson, filed a one-sentence motion asking the court to “exclude all media from all trial proceedings, including but not limited to jury selection, opening statement and witness testimony, in this matter.”

Hundreds of criminals in Texas whose records were sealed under a 2003 law have gone on to face new charges in the past two years, "including a handful" of cases of murder and rape, The Dallas Morning News reported today.

A New Jersey appeals court ruled Wednesday that settlement documents sought by the watchdog group Public Citizen in a personal injury case must be unsealed, The (Newark) Star-Ledger reported.

The officer overseeing legal affairs for the United States Coast Guard has agreed to post all Coast Guard court martial dockets online in early 2009.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has issued a notice pledging that all dockets – court records that list filings, hearing dates, and other basic case information – will be open to the public. 

The Supreme Court today declined to accept review of an appellate court ruling that has allowed all records in a federal employment discrimination case to be hidden from the public for seven years.

The Court offered no explanation for its refusal to accept the case, New York Law Publishing Company v. Doe.

A federal court on Thursday denied a newspaper’s request to intervene and unseal records in a sweeping corruption investigation in El Paso, Tex., but agreed to unseal some of the documents in redacted form.

A legal newspaper in Pennsylvania has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a decision that allowed all records in a federal employment discrimination case to be hidden from the public.

The judge presiding over the trial of United States District Judge Samuel Kent issued a broad gag order Friday, prohibiting court staff, lawyers and “all other witnesses expected to be called by either side” from giving out non-public information that could interfere with a fair trial.  

Kent was indicted in August on charges of abusive sexual contact and attempted aggravated sexual abuse.  He is the first federal judge to be indicted for federal sex crimes, and faces a maximum penalty of life in prison and a fine of $250,000.