State of Indiana v. Richard M. Allen | Allen Superior Court
See above goldmine zip file.
Q: Has this Gull Court zip file of submissions been studied here in the past?
Bbm
RELATOR’S BRIEF IN SUPPORT OF PETITION FOR WRITS OF MANDAMUS AND PROHIBITION
Filed: 10/30/2023 10:54 AM 23S-OR-00302. IN THE INDIANA SUPREME COURT CASE NO. ____________ STATE OF INDIANA ON THE RELATION OF RICHARD ALLEN, Relator, v. THE CARROLL CIRCUIT COURT and THE HONORABLE FRANCES C. GULL, SPECIAL JUDGE, Respondents. ) ) ) ) ) CAUSE NO. 08C01-2210-MR-000001 ) ) ) ) )...
www.docdroid.net
p. 19-20
“As noted above, although Allen's April 5, 2023 filings were marked as public documents,
someone within the court system sua sponte changed all of the filings to "confidential" and excluded all of them from public access. The next three months of court records were all improperly excluded from public access as well (also without the
mandatory ACR Form).
On
June 28, 2023, the trial court explained that all of the above pleadings had been excluded from public access "to comply with the Court Order dated December 2, 2022, which prohibits public comment, commonly referred to as the 'Gag Order'" which the trial court appears to recognize was improper because the trial court created a link to
State of Indiana v. Richard M. Allen | Allen Superior Court containing a Zip Drive with 118 documents uploaded.
This did not satisfy the trial court's duties under the Access to Court Records Rules.
First, the trial court allowed the parties to "agree" to exclude the entirety of certain records from public access. Section II.A., supra, sets out how that violates
Rule 5 of the Access to Court Records Rules in two different ways.
Second, the Zip Drive does not provide meaningful public access. The file names for the 118 documents have no clear identifying information to enable someone to recognize what the document actually is; every document has the same date of 6-27 2023; and none of the exhibits to a particular filing are connected to the actual filings.
(Record, pp.47-50.)
The actual CCS in this case still has every one of the 118 documents excluded from public access. (Record, pp. 15-23.) As noted above, this means the only way a member of the public can access anything in this case is if they somehow know to read the June 28, 2023 order, see the link embedded therein, and then proceed to open each of the 118 documents until they find the filing they are looking for.
This does not provide the public access mandated by the Access to Court Records Rules.
In addition, there are still two documents that remain excluded, are not on the Zip Drive, do not have an ACR Form, and for which an ACR Rule 6 hearing has never been held: (1) a June 20, 2023 filing by the Carroll County Sheriff; and (2) a July 5, 2023 letter from a D.O.C. inmate. (Record, pp. 22-23.)
A Writ of Mandamus is needed ordering that the 118 documents must be made publicly accessible on the CCS itself and that the two documents listed above may only remain excluded upon compliance with the Access to Court Records Rules.”