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Friday, February 12, 2010
Courts - More on "Judge denies Star motion to unseal search warrants in Durham case"
Updating this ILB entry from Jan. 5, 2010, Jim Mackinnon of the Akron Ohio Beacon Journal has a story today that begins:
YOUNGSTOWN: Four newspapers attempted to make a case Thursday afternoon before a federal magistrate to unseal records that could shed light on why the FBI raided the offices of Fair Finance in Akron and Obsidian Enterprises in Indianapolis in November.The U.S. attorney's office for Southern Indiana argued that unsealing search warrants and FBI affidavits could damage the federal government's ongoing investigation into Fair Finance. The U.S. attorney's office wants only the federal judge to know its reasons for keeping the documents sealed.
The Akron Beacon Journal, Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis Business Journal and the Wall Street Journal joined in federal courts in Ohio and Indiana seeking to make public the search warrants and related documents used to justify the Nov. 24 FBI raids.
A hearing on the conflict originally scheduled for last week in U.S. District Court in Akron was moved to federal court in Youngstown before Judge George J. Limbert.
A related hearing is scheduled at a date yet to be set in Indianapolis before a different judge. That led Limbert to wonder aloud if the two cases should be consolidated before one judge to avoid the possibility of conflicting decisions.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Vaughn said making public an FBI agent's affidavit and the search warrants could hurt a government investigation into Fair Finance. His arguments included saying there is no First Amendment right to sealed search-warrant documents.
''The affidavits should remain under seal,'' Vaughn said.
The newspapers' attorney, Karen Lefton of Akron-based Brouse McDowell, argued that the documents should be made public. The government also should not be creating additional sealed documents such as FBI affidavits, she said.
The burden of proof is on the government to show that release of the documents would injure the government's investigation, she said.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 12, 2010 09:34 AM
Posted to Courts in general