An Albemarle County Circuit judge will reveal her ruling on May 26 on a petition to unseal an order used to seal search warrant records in connection with the killing of a University of Virginia lacrosse player.
After a hearing this morning on the petition, which was filed on behalf of The Daily Progress, The Washington Post, The Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Associated Press, Judge Cheryl Higgins said she wanted additional time to review briefs before rendering her decision.
The petition was filed May 11, seven days after a Washington Post reporter went to the Charlottesville Circuit Court clerk’s office to view search warrant records that The Daily Progress had reported on earlier that day. The records pertain to the death of 22-year-old fourth-year student Yeardley Love. George Huguely, also 22, a fourth-year and a lacrosse player, was charged May 3 in connection with Love’s death.
Charlottesville police have been executing search warrants in connection with the case. Search warrant records typically can be viewed by the public upon request. According to the petition, the Post reporter was told that those records were sealed and the order sealing those records from the public’s view had been sealed.
Craig Merritt, the Richmond-based attorney representing the media outlets, said in court today that his clients are requesting that the sealed order to seal the documents be made public.
“We’re trying to discern what the contents of the order are,” Merritt said.
The attorney said in court that the Virginia Supreme Court requires a record of an order to seal a search warrant. Alexander Francuzenko, a Fairfax-based attorney representing Charlottesville Circuit Court Clerk Paul G. Garrett, said in court that the “verified petition of writ of mandamus” that Merritt filed wasn’t the right vehicle to make the request to unseal the sealing order.
The attorney said a “motion to intervene” in Huguely’s criminal proceeding would have been the right way to make the request.
Merritt said in court that Huguely’s case has not been transferred from the Charlottesville General District Court to the circuit court, where the search warrant records are kept. In a letter filed Monday in court records, Huguely defense attorneys Francis McQ. Lawrence and Rhonda Quagliana said that they didn’t seek to have any materials relating to the search warrants sealed by the court and weren’t part of any hearings or communiqués regarding the sealing order.
“We take no position with respect to the sealing of these documents,” the letter said.
Dave Chapman, the city commonwealth’s attorney, said in court that the city is in the midst of a criminal investigation and prosecution.
“We have a duty that this is a proceeding that can take place in the city of Charlottesville,” Chapman said in court. “We have a duty that this is a trial that can take place in front of unbiased jurors.”
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