STATE OF TENNESSEE v. LETALVIS COBBINS, LEMARICUS DAVIDSON, GEORGE THOMAS, AND VANESSA COLEMAN IN RE: GARY CHRISTIAN, DEENA CHRISTIAN, HUGH NEWSOM, & MARY NEWSOM TO INTERVENE FOR ACCESS TO COURT RECORDS - Articles

All Content

STATE OF TENNESSEE v. LETALVIS COBBINS, LEMARICUS DAVIDSON, GEORGE THOMAS, AND VANESSA COLEMAN IN RE: GARY CHRISTIAN, DEENA CHRISTIAN, HUGH NEWSOM, & MARY NEWSOM TO INTERVENE FOR ACCESS TO COURT RECORDS

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Feb 4, 2015

Court: TN Court of Criminal Appeals

Attorneys 1:

Herbert S. Moncier, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the petitioners, Gary and Deena Christian and Hugh and Mary Newsom.

Attorneys 2:

Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter; Joseph F. Whalen, Acting Solicitor General; and Linda D. Kirklen, Assistant Attorney General, for the respondent, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Judge(s): EASTER

Petitioners, the parents of the victims in the underlying criminal cases, sought to intervene in those proceedings for the purpose of challenging the trial court’s order to seal portions of an investigative file of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation that was identified during the motions for new trial in the underlying cases. Because we conclude that Petitioners have no statutory or constitutional right to access the sealed confidential information in the file, we affirm the trial court’s denial of their request to unseal.

Attachments: