A judge in St. Paul, Minnesota, has ordered journalists not to report on a sentencing memo that was filed in a high-profile murder case involving a recovery home that has come under state and federal investigation for medicaid fraud, KARE 11 reports. In a written ruling and an additional order from the bench, Judge Joy Bartscher has barred reporting on the memo that was originally filed into the public record, which detailed specific failures by the state and irregularities in the recovery home’s treatment records leading up to the murders. In addition, Judge Bartscher ordered members of the media to “destroy” copies of the memo, and would not permit them to bring cameras into the sentencing hearing, despite Minnesota Supreme Court guidelines saying cameras promote transparency.
“That’s a pretty extraordinary step to take,” said professor Jane Kirtley ,a media ethics and law professor at the University of Minnesota, is a First Amendment expert and former Executive Director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “I would say violates the First Amendment to the Constitution.” KARE 11 has filed a legal challenge to the gag order. KARE’s attorneys argue Judge Bartscher’s ruling violates the First Amendment, deprives the public of information of significant public interest and concern, and that she should be prohibited from enforcing her unconstitutional prior restraint. The petition states, “Under clear and binding precedent, KARE 11 has a First Amendment right to use the sentencing memorandum and any information derived from it in its news reporting …” The filing concludes, “Because the Court’s Orders fly in the face of decades of U.S. Supreme Court, Minnesota Supreme Court, and Minnesota Court of Appeals case law, KARE 11 is entitled to immediate relief in the form of a writ of prohibition restraining Ramsey County District Court Judge Joy D. Bartscher from enforcing them.”
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