It's now been 2 months since
#WTHR first asked Judge Frances Gull to release publicly-filed exhibits introduced during pre-trial hearings in the
#Delphi murders case. The judge said she won't release the exhibits for months. Last night we filed a legal motion to change that. 1/
Court exhibits can be introduced in 2 ways: with a request to seal the exhibits to protect sensitive info or not under seal, which means they become public records available to the public & media. The state and defense introduced DOZENS of exhibits--nearly all NOT under seal. 2/
On Aug 2 (one day after the hearings in Delphi), WTHR requested access to all of the publicly-filed exhibits under Indiana's Access to Public Records Act. A few weeks later, the court told me Gull would release the info only AFTER the trial. We believe this violates APRA. 3/
So we tried another route: refiling the request in late August under Indiana's Access to Court Records rules, which also say publicly-filed exhibits & other court docs should be open to public inspection. We reiterated we want to inspect only the exhibits NOT filed under seal. 4/
WTHR also offered to travel to Allen County to inspect the records in the judge's courtroom. We received a formal reply from Judge Gull, again stating she would not make the records available until after the trial, delaying release even further if Richard Allen is convicted. 5/
Judge Gull is responsible for ensuring a fair trial for Richard Allen & the victim's families. We do not believe violating the right of the public and press to access public records is necessary to ensure a fair trial. That is why we chose to file this motion. 6/
We are grateful for the partnership of other media & media organizations (local, state and national) to join WTHR in a group effort to ensure the public gets to track the
#Delphi proceedings & not have to wait months to access info that should be public now under state law. 7/
Here is the full motion filed by WTHR and the coalition of other media organizations. We are hopeful the judge will permit timely access to both the pre-trial and trial exhibits as required under APRA and ACR rules. 8/
