Access to courts
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Daily Press v. Commonwealth (Supreme Court)
A unanimous Supreme Court ruled there is a presumptive right of access by the public to bond hearings. A Newport News circuit court judge erred by closing a bond hearing for a police officer accused of second-degree murder.
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Virginia Broadcasting Corp. v. Commonwealth
Virginia Supreme Court rules trial court did not err in refusing TV station’s request to have cameras present during the sentencing phase of convicted murder defendant George Huguely. The court attempted to reconcile two seemingly contradictory phrases within the statute and while setting forth the specific procedure to be used in the future, acknowledged that…
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Daily Press v. Commonwealth
Virginia Supreme Court rules that Newport News judge wrongly sealed trial exhibits.
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Media General Operations Inc. v. Buchanan (4th Cir. on access to courts)
Several media companies joined forces to request a judicial order that would unseal affidavits supporting search warrants related to U.S. antiterrorist efforts. They also wanted the district court to maintain a public docket of search warrant proceedings. The 4th Circuit affirmed a lower court’s ruling that denied those requests. Although the press has a qualified…
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Virginia Department of State Police v. Washington Post (4th Cir. on access to courts)
The Virginia police objected unsuccessfully to the unsealing of records related to Earl Washington, Jr., who was wrongly sentenced to death for rape and murder. After DNA evidence led to a pardon for Washington, media organizations asked for police documents relating to the initial investigation, which were subpoenaed in a civil suit Washington brought after…
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U.S. v. Moussaoui (4th Cir. on access to court records)
Here, a group of media companies asked to intervene in the trial of accused terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui. They sought access to portions of the record and of the pleadings and motions made by the government. The 4th Circuit agreed with their contention that sealing off all such records was unnecessarily restrictive, and agreed to provide…
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Globe Newspaper Company v. Commonwealth
Newspapers asked to obtain DNA evidence from a criminal trial and subject it to retesting under modern methods. The Court affirmed a lower court’s decision to deny that request. The right of access to the courts is not so broadly defined under the United States or Virginia Constitutions. Furthermore, the DNA evidence was not a…
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Bell v. Jarvis (4th Cir. on public trials)
A man convicted of sexually abusing his step-granddaughter objected when the public and press were removed from the courtroom while she testified. On direct appeal, his lawyer failed to make a 6th Amendment claim to a public trial. The state courts summarily rejected petitioner’s state habeas claim that failure to pursue the Sixth Amendment violation…
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Hertz v. Times-World Corp.
The Bedford County Circuit Court granted writs of mandamus to two newspapers, ordering that transcripts from several criminal hearings be made public. Two of the hearings involved juveniles and two involved adults accused of sexual crimes, in which numerous juvenile witnesses were required to testify. The Court reversed those writs of mandamus. The newspapers should…
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Shenandoah Publishing House Inc. v. Fanning (Va. Supreme Court on access to courts)
A publisher intervened to challenge a Winchester Circuit Court decision which entered several protective orders in a wrongful death action. Among the records sealed were those concerning a compromise settlement between the estate of the deceased and the defendant corporations. The Court held that the trial court had struck the wrong balance between the interests…
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Richmond Newspapers Inc. v. Commonwealth (Va. Supreme Court on access to courts)
In consolidated cases, several newspapers challenged trial court orders that closed to the public pretrial suppression hearings in three criminal prosecutions. The trial courts had overruled all objections by the newspapers. The Court reversed and vacated the trial court orders. It is unconstitutional to close pretrial hearings without an ‘overriding interest articulated in findings,’ and…