Calling a judge's order to bar access to jail records about the man accused of killing Anne Pressly a "gross abuse of discretion," the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. on Wednesday petitioned the state Supreme Court to overrule the judge and reaffirm that the records are open to public inspection.
Requesting a writ of certiorari, which would order Little Rock District Court Judge Lee Munson to abandon his position that Curtis Lavelle Vance's jail records should remain secret to protect Vance's right to a fair trial, the company argued that no evidence indicates that Vance's Sixth Amendment right was in jeopardy.
The company, which publishes the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, also argued that Munson, who retires from the bench in two weeks, does not have the legal authority to create exemptions to the state Freedom of Information Act, under which many jail records have been considered public since 1972.
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http://showtime.ark…">Petition for writ of certiorari
"We think this is absolutely an essential thing to do," the newspaper's managing editor, David Bailey, said.
Pressly, 26, who had worked for KATV Channel 7 since 2004, died Oct. 25, lingering unconscious for five days after her mother found her beaten and bloody in her bedroom.
Little Rock police arrested Vance on Nov. 26 after matching his DNA with a sample taken from Pressly's house.
The next week, citing growing rumors, Munson granted a request from Vance's attorneys and issued a gag order barring Arkansas law-enforcement agencies, the state Crime Lab, defense attorneys and prosecutors from discussing the case. A day later came the order barring the release of jail records along with another order that prohibited law-enforcement agencies from taking Vance out of Pulaski County.
Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.