Secret courts
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE MASSACHUSETTS · November 20, 2006 · Secret courts
High-profile murder trial leads to disputes over coverage
Nov. 20, 2006 · The judge in a Massachusetts murder trial briefly threatened to hold a newspaper in contempt of court for reporting the name of a dismissed juror, one of several skirmishes between the media and the judge in the high-profile Christa Worthington trial.
Worthington, a well known fashion writer, was stabbed to death on January 6, 2002. She was found dead in her home in a small town in Cape Cod, her two-year-old daughter crying by her side.
On Thursday, the jury found garbage collector Christopher McCowen guilty of the rape and murder of Worthington.
The case attracted widespread media attention. Judge Gary Nickerson permitted television cameras to broadcast live footage of the trial but insisted on some media restrictions and issued an order establishing guidelines early on in the proceedings.
At one point, the judge admonished a CBS News camera crew for videotaping jurors as they left court, according to media reports.
Another dispute arose when one juror was dismissed from service last week after the jury had already undergone deliberations.
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE GEORGIA · November 15, 2006 · Secret courts
Cameras will be allowed in courthouse shooting trial
Nov. 15, 2006 · The judge in a high-profile murder trial in Atlanta has decided that television and still cameras will be allowed to broadcast and photograph the trial of Brian Nichols, who is accused of murdering four people after escaping from courthouse custody.
A manhunt for Nichols garnered intense nationwide media attention in March 2005. While being tried for rape, Nichols escaped from courthouse guards and killed a judge, court reporter and two others.
Defense lawyers asked the court to bar cameras from broadcasting the trial, scheduled to begin Jan. 11, saying that such publicity could have a prejudicial impact on Nichols' right to a fair trial. They argued that the jury members could be prejudiced by media coverage and told the court they had encountered witnesses who expressed reluctance to testify in court because of the media coverage.
Prosecutors in the case argued that cameras should be allowed. They wrote that the defendant's actions have had a "widespread effect" on people "spread not only across the country, but around the world." Permitting television coverage of the . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE CONNECTICUT · October 31, 2006 · Secret courts
Committees recommend increased court access
Oct. 31, 2006 · Connecticut state courts soon may be more accessible to the public if recommendations suggested by two panels are implemented.
The Judicial Branch Public Access Task Force, formed by the state judicial branch, and the Commission on Judicial Reform, formed by the governor, recently released recommendations concerning court access.
The panels were formed in the wake of a controversy that erupted in late April surrounding former Chief Justice William J. Sullivan. Sullivan has admitted that he delayed the release of a court decision in a Freedom of Information Act case so that the opinion would not become a negative issue during the nomination process of his successor.
In a report released Sept. 15, the Judicial Branch Public Access Task Force made 38 recommendations. On Sept. 28, state Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice David M. Borden endorsed 35 of the recommendations and announced that some would be implemented without delay. For example, there will be online access to the daily criminal dockets and members of the public will be able to use hand-held scanners to copy . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE MINNESOTA · October 27, 2006 · Secret courts
Judge orders documents in health care case unsealed
Oct. 27, 2006 · A federal judge in Minnesota has ordered unsealed some documents in a pacemaker pricing case in response to a motion filed by the watchdog group Public Citizen.
In a lawsuit that settled on confidential terms in May, Boston Scientific Corp.'s Guidant Unit sued consulting company Aspen II Holding Co. Inc. for publishing information about the prices of Guidant's pacemakers.
The records at issue were filed under seal before the settlement was reached.
Washington, D.C.-based Public Citizen argued that the information should be unsealed because it was highly important to the public interest, saying that Guidant's secrecy concerning its products' prices hinders efforts at maintaining price transparency and threatens to foster the artificial elevation of health care prices.
U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank reviewed the documents confidentially in chambers and ordered that the summary judgment briefs and related affidavits be unsealed. Some documents were left sealed.
"The court determined which documents contain trade secrets or proprietary information . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE CONNECTICUT · October 24, 2006 · Secret courts
Judge delayed release of decision on court openness
Oct. 24, 2006 · Former Connecticut Supreme Court Chief Justice William J. Sullivan is defending himself against charges of ethics violations for delaying the publication of a controversial ruling about public records.
Sullivan has admitted that he delayed releasing the decision for fear it would cause problems during the confirmation process of Justice Peter T. Zarella, who was appointed to succeed him as chief justice.
"I put a hold on the case because I didn't want Peter or anyone else going over to the legislature to explain a case I wrote and I thought was going to be controversial," Sullivan testified before the Connecticut Judicial Review Council last week, according to The Hartford (Conn.) Courant. "I felt this was going to be a hot-button case."
Both Sullivan and Zarella say that Zarella knew nothing of Sullivan's actions to delay releasing the opinion.
In the case at issue, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that records tracking court cases are not related to the courts' administrative functions and therefore do not have to be released under the . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE RHODE ISLAND · October 17, 2006 · Secret courts
Newspaper can't see potential jurors' answers
Oct. 17, 2006 · A Rhode Island judge last week denied a newspaper's request to see questionnaires completed by prospective jurors in a high-profile manslaughter case, despite the fact that the defendant's plea ended the case before a jury was ever selected.
Judge Francis J. Darigan Jr. did agree to make public a blank copy of the questionnaire given to potential jurors in the case of Michael Derderian, the co-owner of a nightclub that burned to the ground during a 2003 rock concert, killing 100 people. But he would not release the forms completed by more than 400 potential jurors in the case, citing the impact such a decision could have on future trials.
Shortly after the jurors filled out the questionnaires in early September, The Providence Journal petitioned the judge for copies of the forms. On Sept. 29, Derderian and his brother, Jeffrey, the club's other owner, pleaded no contest to 100 counts of manslaughter before lawyers verbally questioned any of the jurors.
The Journal continued to seek access to the questionnaires to see if the answers shed any light on the . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE EIGHTH CIRCUIT · September 22, 2006 · Secret courts
Names of lawyers who lent money to judge released
Sep. 22, 2006 · A bankruptcy court on Tuesday released the names of 10 lawyers who lent money to a former Kansas City, Mo., municipal judge, three weeks after a federal appeals court ruled the bankruptcy judge erred in sealing the documents.
For nearly a year, The Kansas City Star sought to obtain the list, which U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jerry Venters sealed at Kansas City Municipal Judge Deborah Neal's request during Neal's bankruptcy trial. Neal, who has acknowledged having a gambling problem, submitted the list of creditors when she filed for bankruptcy relief last year.
Venters granted the request by citing a bankruptcy provision authorizing the sealing of "defamatory" or "scandalous" matter. The U.S. District Court in Kansas City ordered the names released, arguing that the provision does not apply to a list of creditor names.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis (8th Cir.) upheld the lower court's decision on Aug. 29, stating the list was not "scandalous" under the law.
"The creditors list is just that -- a list of persons or entities to whom Neal owes money," Judge . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE U.S. SUPREME COURT · September 14, 2006 · Secret courts
Supreme Court will post same-day transcripts online
Sep. 14, 2006 · The U.S. Supreme Court announced today it will make transcripts of oral arguments available to the public for free online the same day they are heard in court.
Beginning with the October term of the Supreme Court, anyone with Internet access will be able to read what was said in the court that day. The Supreme Court will be posting transcripts of its oral arguments online every day, available free of charge, at www.supremecourtus.gov.
In recent years, the court had been making transcripts available on its Web site approximately two weeks after the end of an argument. They could be obtained earlier only by making arrangements in advance and paying a fee.
Now members of the public will be able to access transcripts on the same day of argument by clicking on the "Oral Arguments" prompt on the home page of the court's Web site and then selecting "Argument Transcripts."
The court used to send audio recordings off-site to be transcribed. Under the new system, the court will use a court reporter and high-speed technology to produce the transcripts.
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE FLORIDA · September 11, 2006 · Secret courts
Court rules on hidden dockets, sealed cases may change
Sep. 11, 2006 · Florida court officials have proposed rules that would forbid courts from hiding criminal cases on secret dockets and create stricter guidelines for courts to follow when sealing cases.
The suggested changes stem from an April article in The Miami Herald, which reported that more than 400 civil cases and an unknown number of criminal cases were not on public dockets in Broward Circuit Court since 1989. Some of these involved prominent figures such as politicians, judges and police officers. Similar instances of disappearing cases have been found in courts in other Florida counties, including Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Sarasota, Pinellas and Pasco.
“I almost swallowed my tongue when I read about this," said Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred Lewis, according to the Herald. "To have such hiding occur . . . that's not America, is it?"
The Florida Association of Court Clerks and Comptrollers drafted the proposed rule changes after a meeting with Lewis. Some of the changes are similar to rules mandated by Broward County Chief Judge Dale Ross in June. The Florida . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE NORTH DAKOTA · August 21, 2006 · Secret courts
Videotapes used in kidnapping trial won't be released
Aug. 21, 2006 · The First Amendment does not require a court to give the news media copies of taped interviews of a suspect explaining his alibi to federal investigators four days before he was arrested and charged with a crime, Judge Ralph Erickson of the U.S. District Court in Fargo, North Dakota, ruled Aug. 18.
"These audio tapes relate to the validity of Defendant's alibi, and captures his own voice as he explains where he was during the time frame of Ms. Sjodin's disappearance," Erickson wrote. "If there were to be a second trial as a result of an appeal, having this sort of tape played in the media could create prejudice for a second trial."
Forum Communications, which owns the Grand Forks Herald, Forum newspaper, and several radio and television stations throughout North Dakota, requested access to tapes that were played at the trial of Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. Aug. 16.
Rodriguez is being charged with kidnapping and killing Dru Sjodin, a University of North Dakota student who was 22 when she disappeared Nov. 11, 2003. Rodriguez, a registered sex offender who had recently completed a . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE MICHIGAN · August 16, 2006 · Secret courts
Speech about inadmissable evidence not protected
Aug. 16, 2006 · The First Amendment does not protect a six-year sexual harassment case from dismissal because the plaintiff and her attorneys ignored a judge's warning not to publicize an expunged criminal conviction, violating state rules of professional conduct, the Michigan Supreme Court has ruled, reversing an appellate court decision.
"Plaintiff's and her counsel's numerous public references to [the defendant's] inadmissible, expunged indecent exposure conviction, despite a court order excluding such evidence, were obviously intended to prejudice potential jurors," Justice Maura Corrigan wrote for the four-judge majority July 31.
Justine Maldonado sued Ford Motor Co. in June 2000, alleging that her supervisor, Daniel Bennett, sexually harassed her. At Ford's request, Wayne Circuit Court Judge Kathleen Macdonald agreed to exclude evidence of Bennett's 1995 indecent exposure conviction.
In September 2001, however, Maldonado's lawyers issued a press release that mentioned the conviction, which was subsequently reported by The Associated Press, the Detroit Free Press, WDIV-TV and other news . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE U.S. SUPREME COURT · August 8, 2006 · Secret courts
Ginsburg orders documents unsealed in librarian case
Aug. 8, 2006 · U.S. Supreme Court filings and documents related to a group of Connecticut librarians who were the target of a national security investigation by the FBI were unsealed last week under order by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The order allowed the American Civil Liberties Union to post on its Web site specific documents containing information that the government forced the organization to file under seal in the nation's highest court, which last fall declined to hear the case between the FBI and the librarians.
The case centers on a group of Connecticut librarians who received FBI national security letters,
administrative subpoenas that allow the FBI, in fighting terrorism, to gain access to electronic records including those held by libraries and Internet service providers.
The ACLU, which represented the librarians in the case, appealed to Ginsburg, who is the high court justice for the Second Circuit -- which includes Connecticut and New York -- to have the documents unsealed. The unsealed documents, which were filed with the high court in the ACLU's appeal for the court to take the . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE SIXTH CIRCUIT · July 11, 2006 · Secret courts
Court declines to rule on access to juvenile proceedings
July 11, 2006 · A Kentucky Press Association case challenging the constitutionality of four laws that limit public access to juvenile court proceedings must be dismissed because the state courts have not interpreted the laws, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati (6th Cir.) ruled Friday.
"KPA's First Amendment claim rests upon the mere speculation that the Kentucky courts would interpret Kentucky law in a way that completely denies the media access to juvenile proceedings and records," Judge Alice M. Batchelder wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel. The Kentucky courts "could well render an interpretation of these statutes that provides for the access that KPA seeks and thus avoids the constitutional issue presented in this case," she wrote.
In judging it was too soon to decide the press association's claim, the appeals court concluded that the harm the press association complained about -- the media being shut out of juvenile proceedings -- would not necessarily happen since it is unknown whether Kentucky courts would permit the media access.
While one state law denies general access to . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE WASHINGTON · July 5, 2006 · Secret courts
New trial ordered after improper closure of courtroom
July 5, 2006 · The pretrial closure of a Washington state courtroom, requested by a codefendant in a drug case, violated the other defendant's state constitutional right to a public trial, the state's highest court ruled Thursday.
Suspected drug dealer Ricko Easterling will be tried again in King County Superior Court where he was convicted for unlawful delivery of cocaine in 2003. Initially, he and defendant Anthony Jackson were being tried together. During a pretrial hearing, Jackson's attorney asked the courtroom be closed so Jackson could discuss in Easterling's absence a plea agreement and a motion to separate Jackson's trial from Easterling's.
In the closed courtroom, Jackson agreed to testify against Easterling and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, according to the high court's written opinion.
The courtroom closure warranted overturning his conviction because he could not defend himself at the closed hearing, the unanimous court ruled in overturning the Court of Appeals in Seattle, which had affirmed Easterling's conviction.
The state argued that because the discussions in the . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE FLORIDA · June 27, 2006 · Secret courts
News media win hearing before judge can seal documents
June 27, 2006 · A trial court cannot seal documents gathered in preparation of a murder trial without a public hearing, a Florida appeals court ruled Friday.
The Tampa Tribune, WFLA-TV and their parent company, Media General Operations Inc., challenged a January decision by Hillsborough County Circuit Court Judge Ronald N. Ficarrotta, who sealed pre-trial information at the sealed request of defendant David Lee Onstott. Ficarrotta did so without a public hearing on why the information should be sealed.
Jim McGuire of Thomas & Locicero, which represented Media General, said the ruling by Florida's District Court of Appeal in Lakeland provides good guidance for anyone wishing to seal records in court. "If you want to argue about public records you do that on the record, in the open, " he said.
"The defense counsel can still ask the court to seal the underlying documents, they just have to make the argument in open court," McGuire said.
The unanimous three-judge panel said the trial court may direct Onstott to file a motion "that states the basis for sealing the discovery materials . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE SECOND CIRCUIT · June 27, 2006 · Secret courts
Petition for access to court documents dismissed
June 27, 2006 · A New York man facing money laundering charges failed in his latest quest for access to information the government claims supports the charges against him. The U.S. Court of Appeals in New York (2nd Cir.) rejected Yassin Muhiddin Aref's request to rule on several issues, including whether the government should disclose unredacted forms containing what it claims is confidential information. The petition to the court is the latest in a long line of legal maneuvering by Aref for access to the documents.
While Aref's case continues in U.S. District Court in Albany, he asked the appellate court to order the government to divulge if any of the sealed evidence against him came from the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program. Aref asked the court to declare the program illegal, and declare that all evidence collected in the program be inadmissible.
In dismissing the case Friday, a three-judge panel said it lacked jurisdiction over the matter.
Although the government released redacted versions of confidential documents, Aref wants access to unredacted versions available . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE SOUTH CAROLINA · June 6, 2006 · Secret courts
Media win courtroom access more than year after trial ends
June 6, 2006 · The argument that the public's interest in a capital murder trial trumped the defendant's fair trial rights did not convince a South Carolina trial judge last year to open a pretrial hearing, a court proceeding that the state's highest court ruled last week should not have been shuttered.
The unanimous ruling by the South Carolina Supreme Court is the latest in a string of state court decisions strengthening public access to courts in the state, said Rivers Stilwell, the attorney who represented The Greenville News.
Chief Justice Jean Toal wrote for the high court that Greenville County Circuit Court Judge J.C. Nicholson Jr.'s closure of a pretrial evidentiary hearing in the capital murder case against Charles Christopher Williams was not justified.
"Relying on the fact that this case involved the 'hot button' issue of domestic violence, an issue which had played prominently in the media's coverage of the case, and because this case also involved sensitive racial issues, the court closed the suppression hearing," Toal wrote in the May 30 ruling. "Though these concerns were no . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE CALIFORNIA · May 24, 2006 · Secret courts
Financial records in divorce cases remain open
May 24, 2006 · A day after the California Supreme Court declined to hear a case upholding public access to financial information in divorce cases, a lawmaker shelved a bill pushing to keep such information shrouded.
Senate Bill 1015 would have allowed parties to divorce proceedings to automatically redact from public files information such as net worth, annual salary, Social Security numbers, home addresses and bank account balances. Billionaire Ronald Burkle, undergoing a closely watched divorce in the state, had sought to seal financial information in his files, but both Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Roy L. Paul and the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles declared unconstitutional a 2004 law allowing such secrecy.
Following the high court's refusal to hear Burkle's case, Sen. Kevin Murray, the Democrat who introduced the bill earlier this year, moved it to inactive status, but said it is not dead. Opponents, including women's advocacy groups, some legislators and First Amendment organizations, argue the bill, if passed, would violate the public's right to information.
Kelli Sager, an . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE VIRGINIA · May 22, 2006 · Secret courts
Torture claim dismissed under state secrets privilege
May 22, 2006 · Allowing a German citizen's lawsuit alleging CIA-led torture to proceed to trial would reveal state secrets and endanger national security, a federal judge has ruled in dismissing the case under the state secrets privilege.
The once rarely used privilege -- created by a 1953 U.S. Supreme Court ruling -- allows courts to dismiss lawsuits in which the government convinces a judge that even trying the case under extraordinary secrecy could reveal state secrets.
That means that unless a May 12 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III is overturned on appeal, reporters and the public will never have an answer from the courts on whether Khaled el-Masri deserves $75,000 in compensation from the U.S. government for what he alleges was five months of torture at the hands of the CIA. El-Masri claims he was kidnapped on New Year's Eve 2003 at the Serbian-Macedonian border and beaten, sodomized and imprisoned at the "Salt Pit," a CIA-run facility in Afghanistan.
Judge Ellis did not consider the validity of el-Masri's allegations, but after reviewing evidence in the case -- a classified . . . [more]
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NEWS MEDIA UPDATE NINTH CIRCUIT · May 19, 2006 · Secret courts
Public access right trumps parties' secrecy agreement
May 19, 2006 · A federal magistrate judge properly unsealed court documents in a case involving alleged police corruption that ended in settlement, the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco (9th Cir.) ruled Wednesday.
Neither the city of Honolulu nor the U.S. Department of Justice convinced the court that its interest in keeping the material secret trumped The Honolulu Advertiser's presumption of access to court records that were originally sealed with the parties' mutual agreement. The Advertiser sought the records in fall 2002 to investigate police officer Kenneth Kamakana's claims that he was transferred out of Honolulu's elite Criminal Intelligence Unit (CIU) for reporting other officers' misconduct and illegal acts.
The city "had a chance to show 'compelling reasons' [for keeping attachments to summary judgment motions sealed] and squandered it," Judge M. Margaret McKeown wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel. The city's arguments that the documents' unsealing would "hinder CIU's future operations with other agencies, endanger informants' lives, and cast officers in a false light [are] . . . [more]
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