N&O lawyers press attorney general on court records

Lawyers for The News & Observer have asked state Attorney General Roy Cooper to abide by state law and order his staff to make dozens of court documents that were sealed Tuesday available for a reporter's inspection.

Patrick Murphy, a prosecutor in Cooper's office, asked a judge Tuesday to seal several Johnston County impaired-driving court cases that a reporter had asked to review not 24 hours before.

The State Bureau of Investigation began reviewing Johnston DWI cases this spring at the behest of the local district attorney to determine whether the cases were improperly dismissed.

Criminal court files are public records, and according to statute, they can't be withheld even if they become part of a criminal investigation.

Hugh Stevens and Amanda Martin, lawyers for The N&O, reminded Cooper of the statute that he helped draft when he served as a member of the state General Assembly. Stevens and Martin wrote to Cooper that his staff violated the law by asking for a seal.

"In addition to utilizing a secret motion and secret hearing to obtain an order that facially violates the letter of the Public Records Law, [your staff] also failed to adhere to the spirit of the Law and to federal and state case law, both of which require the consideration of alternatives less Draconian than sealing," Stevens and Martin wrote in the letter.

A spokeswoman for Cooper indicated late Thursday that he would respond to the letter and issued a short statement from Cooper that indicates he thinks sealing the records is justified: "According to the law, the judge shielded these records temporarily so that an important criminal investigation would not be compromised."

Superior Court Judge James Ammons of Fayetteville came to Smithfield on Tuesday morning and sealed the court files, a half-hour before a reporter arrived to review the records. Ammons said in his Tuesday order that the release of those records could jeopardize the SBI investigation if individuals with knowledge of possible criminal activity were disclosed.

A reporter had told Johnston County Resident Superior Court Judge Tom Lock the day before that if the attorney general's staff sought to seal the records, then attorneys for The News & Observer would like to be heard on the request.

The attorney general's staff arranged for Ammons to travel to Fayetteville on Tuesday to sign the order. Ammons had no other business in court that day and signed the order in judge's chambers.

Lock was in the Johnston County Courthouse and available to hear the request.

Stevens and Martin told Cooper that his staff worked hard to keep these records out of the hands of a reporter.

"Your subordinates went to extraordinary lengths -- including departing from traditional courthouse protocol -- to obtain the enclosed order just in time to prevent the newspaper's reporter from reviewing dozens of criminal files," they wrote.