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Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Ind. Courts - Don't you just love it?

It used to be that stories in the papers would talk about a piece of legislation, but not give any clue as to the bill number. Or they would report that "a court ruled today" without a clue as to what court, or the name of the ruling. These practices seem to have improved somewhat in recent years.

Still, we had the flurry of stories last week about Speaker Bosma appealing the school prayer ruling, when in actuality he filed his appeal months ago -- last week he (or more properly, his attorneys) simply submitted his brief.

Today the Indianapolis Star has posted on line a brief AP story headlined "Judge seals Valpo teen's mental tests." Some quotes:

VALPARAISO, Ind. -- Two psychological evaluations of a teen accused of attacking fellow students at Valparaiso High School have been stamped confidential by a Porter Superior Court judge. [emphasis added]

The evaluations of James Lewerke, accused in the 2004 attack, are to remain under wraps until the case goes to trial, Porter County Deputy Prosecutor Matthew Frost said.

Indiana Public Access Counselor Karen Davis had no problem with the confidentiality status. Records involving medical or mental health are excluded from public access by the rules governing the state's courts, she said.

What judge? There is more to the story, but nowhere does the story identify the judge. The prosecutor is named. The defendant is named. In this version of the story, from WNDU 16, the defendant is even pictured. But the judge, whose action is the focus of the story, is never identified.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 17, 2006 03:21 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts