There is no pillar of the American justice system that stands taller than the pillar of public scrutiny, openness and the right of citizens to hold prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges accountable to follow established law themselves.
But prosecutors and defense attorneys in a Sibley County murder case do not appear to enthusiastically embrace this pillar of justice. Both Sibley County Attorney David Schauer and defense attorney Anthony Nerud made motions to seal the file in the murder case of Amy Ann Romero. They asked that any pre-trial motions and other filings providing information on the case be closed to the public but not the attorneys and judges.
Their petitions border on unconscionable and are certainly unprecedented. Fortunately, District Court Judge Thomas McCarthy denied their petitions for secrecy.
To file motions for secrecy at the discovery stage of the case would only deny the public its right to see if the murder charges against Romero have any merit.
Romero is accused of killing her newborn child more than a decade ago by apparently leaving it in the woods to die shortly after she gave birth to it in her former Henderson residence. She was recently charged with first-degree murder and arrested in Missouri where she had been living. She was indicted by a grand jury to stand trial which is scheduled for September.
But because grand jury proceedings are also secret, the pre-trial motions are the only available public documents for the public to understand more about the case.
Pre-trial motions can shed light on the methods of law enforcement. If there was malfeasance on the part of investigators in the case, only the attorneys and judges would know if the motions were sealed. They might be tempted to overlook errors in investigators’ methods given they often work directly and cooperatively with law enforcement.
This case so far offers so little information that closing off more would create even more distrust among the public. Authorities have not revealed why the charges took so long to be brought, information on how they discovered the murder or even if any remains have been found.
Defense attorney Nerud argued for sealing the file because he worried the jury pool would somehow be tainted by media coverage. Prosecutor Schauer also filed an earlier motion that would seal specific documents that normally would be public.
The attorneys argued the revealing the identities of witnesses might bring media requests for interviews and thus reveal information to potential jurors that might prevent a fair trial.
But these are documents that are typically public. If release of those documents hasn’t tainted the jury pool in the past, it’s difficult to understand how they would taint the pool in this case. KSTP-TV challenged the motions to seal the case as well and its attorney Mark Anfinson said there was no evidence media interviews or anything else would somehow taint the jury pool.
Judge McCarthy apparently saw things the same way and denied the defense and prosecutor motions.
Murder cases are the most important of all cases brought before the courts. Someone’s life has been lost. Someone has been accused of taking that life. Only openness and widespread public scrutiny can ensure that justice is delivered in a fair and impartial way and in accordance with the law.
Editorials
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May 5, 2012
Our View: Secrecy does not serve justice
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