« Ind. Decisions - One today from Tax Court | Main | Environment - Feds oppose Great Lakes states' suit re Asian Carp »

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Ind. Courts - "Judge denies Star motion to unseal search warrants in Durham case"

The Indianapolis Star is reporting this afternoon, in a story by John Russell:

A federal judge has denied a motion to unseal search warrants connected to an FBI raid of two businesses owned by Indianapolis business owner Timothy Durham, ruling that no search warrants were ever issued in the case.

The Indianapolis Star and the Akron Beacon Journal filed motions last month in U.S. District Courts in Ohio and Indiana, seeking to unseal warrants. * * *

“The docket of this civil litigation discloses that no search warrants were ever issued in this cause,” wrote Judge Sarah Evans Barker of the U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, in a ruling issued today.

Judge Barker also denied a second motion sought by the papers, petitioning to allow Karen C. Lefton, an Ohio lawyer representing the Akron Beacon Journal, to be admitted to practice in Indiana on the case. The judge wrote that Lefton’s motion did not identify on whose behalf she sought to appear as an attorney.

“In any event, the case having been previously dismissed, there is no pending controversy in which Ms. Lefton might otherwise appear,” the court ruled.

Lefton had filed the motion on behalf of the Akron Beacon Journal and The Star.

The Indianapolis Business Journal and the Wall Street Journal have since joined the fight to unseal the documents, according to stories published today in the IBJ and Akron Beacon Journal.

In an interview, Lefton said search warrants do indeed exist, based on the FBI raid and comments of federal officials, even if the warrants were not part of Morrison's civil motion.

Lefton said she has refiled her motion,seeking to unseal the warrants as part of a "miscellaneous case," thus not attaching it to the civil motion that was dismissed. She has also refiled other motion, identifying her clients as the Akron Beacon Journal, Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis Business Journal and Wall Street Journal.

She said the federal court in Ohio has not yet ruled on her motions.

Here is Judge Barker's denial of the Lefton motions. Here is the IBJ story.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 5, 2010 04:22 PM
Posted to Ind Fed D.Ct. Decisions