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Show DAILY Defendants Dailuedtevald Established in 1873 Continuedfrom Al A Lee New:spaper and 2005, but the bulk of their records remain secret. CustomerService 375-'-5103 “The constitutional pre- sumption is for openness in the courts, but we haveto ask Newsroom 801-344-2540 Toll free 800-880-8075, FAX 8013735489 whetherwe arereally honoring www.heraldextra.com former federal prosecutor and nowlaw professor at Loyola Law Schoolin Los Angeles. that,” said Laurie Levenson,a Street address: 1555 N. FreedomBlvd.. Provo, UT Sendmail to: P.O, Box 717, Provo, UT 84603-0717 “Whatare the reasons for so manycases remaining under NewsEDITORS 344-2913 rwright@heraldextra.com 344-2586 jpyrah@F acom 344-2530 344-2555 344-2910 gleong@heraldextracom 344-2553 eandrus@heraldextra. comm 344-2544 dmeyers@heraldexta, ‘com seal?” “What makes the American criminaljustice system differ- ExecutiveEditor Metro Editor City Editor Sports Editor Business Editor Life & Style Editor Editorial PageEditor Randy Wright Joe Pyrah ‘Amie Rose Darnell Dickson Grace Leong Elyssa Andrus Donald W. Meyers President & Publisher SENIOR MANAGERS Albert Manz) 344-2935 _amanzi@heraldextra com declined to commenton the numbers. VP &Weekly Publisher kirk Parkinson creasein secret casefiles over time as the Bush administration’s well-documented reliance VPMarketing/Operations Karl Wurzbach Advertising Director Cindy Richards 348-2502 _kparkinson@heraldextra com 344-2912 _kwurabach@heraldextracom 344-2957 _crichards@heraldextracom Ghief Financial Officer Kimberly Reepmeyer 344-2504 Lamy Hatch 344-2929 Ihatch@heraldextra.com LT.Manager Brian Tregaskis 344-2575. btregaskis@heraldextra.com dt Huiman Resources Oatine Jason Pratt Mark Bullard _kreepmeyer@heraldertra com 344-2510. jpra 344-2562 mbullard@heraldextra.com CORRECTIONS: The Herald corrects errors of fact appearing in its news and opinion columns. |f you have a correction, call 344-2561. ent from so many othersin the world is our willingness to cast some sunshine on the process, butif you can’t see it, you can’t wal criticizeit,” Levenson "The courts’ administrative office and the Justice Department The data show a sharp in- HOMEDELIVERY ADVERTISING CLASSIFIED RETA ADVERTISING FAX 373.6450 344.2946 356-3012 The Daily Herald (ISSN 0891-2777, SUBSCRIPTIONS New subscriptions. restarts. delivery billing int days from 6 a.m. to 5 SUBSCRIPTION PROGRAMS ‘A-week period or USPS 143-060)is published morn ings. Sunday through Saturday, by Lee Publications. a division of Lee Enterprises.Inc.. 1555 N. Freedom Bivd., Provo, Utah 84604, *Periodicals postagepaid atProvo. Utah. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Daily Herald, P.O. Box 717, Provo, Utah 84603-0717. thePress,left, talks with Susan Burgess, center, and Kirsten Mitchell, right, at their office in onsecrecyin the executive eral courts through the war on drugs, anti-terrorism efforts dants with casesclosed in 2004, branchhas creptinto the fedandother criminal matters. “This followsthe pattern of this administration,” said John WesleyHall, an Arkansas defense attorney and second Asspeiation of Criminal Defense 375-5103 LAUREN VICTORIA BURKE/Associated Press Right to know: Lucy Dalglish, Executive Directorof the Reporters Committee for Freedom of Arlington, Va. Despite the Sixth Amendment's guaranteeofpublictrials, nearlyall records are being keptsecret for more than 5,000 defendants who completed their journey through thefederal courts during thelast three years. vice president of the National Delivery by 6 am, Mon-Sat am. Sunday For missing papers, call by 9 a.m weekdays or 10 a.m. on weekends Sunday, March 5, 2006 HERALD Lawyers. “I am astonished and shockedthat this manycriminal proceedings in federal court escape public scrutiny or become buried. Thepercentageof defendants whohaye reached verdicts and been sentencedbut still have mostoftheir records sealed has more than doubledin the last three years, the court office's tally shows. Of nearly 85,000 defendants whosecases wereclosed in 2003, the records of 952 or 1.1 percentremain mostly sealed. Of more than 82,000 defen- records for 1,774 or 2.2 percent remain mostly secret. And of more than 87,000 defendants closed outin 2005, court re- cords for 2,390 or 2.7 percent remain mostly closed to the public. The court office also found a sharpincreasein defendants whose case records were partly sealed fora limited time. Amongnewly charged defendants, the numbersin this category grew from 9,999 or 10.9 percentofall defendants charged in 2003 to 11,508 or 12.6 percentof those charged in 2005, But the APinvestigation found. and court observers agree,that the overwhelming numberof these cases sealed fora limited time involve a use of secrecy that drawsnocriti- cism:the sealing ofan indictmentonly until the defendantis arrested. AP'sinvestigation found a large concentration of both kinds of secrecyat the U.S. District Court here:limited sealing of records andextensive sealing that continues even after the courts are done with a defendant. “Whentine sentences are sealed,that’s a con on the community,”said Lexi Christ, a Washingtondefense lawyer for a.man acquitted in a crack cocainecase. In thatcase,all the defendants’ names becamepublic whenthe indictment was unsealed. But all other records for six defendants who pleaded guilty remained sealed more than twoyearsafter the public trial in which twoofthe drug; dealers were convicted. Oneof the cooperating wit- nesses admitted to seven murdersandtestified in open court against co-defendants who had committed fewer, Christ said. Butlike the others who pleaded guilty and cooperated, that witness’plea deal and sentence weresealed. “Cooperating witnesses are pleading guilty to six or seven murders, andthe jury doesn’t know they'll be sitting on the Metro (subway) next to them a yearlater.It’s a really, really ugly system,”Christ said. Prosecutors argue that plea agreements mustbe sealed to protect witnesses and their families from violentretaliation. But Christ said that makes nosenseafter the trial when the defendants know whotestified. MEMBER, AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS. All contents Copyright © 2006, Daily Herald. Any reproduction or other useis strictly prohibited with- Graduation Out written permission, Continued from Al Peruee eC Leen) ere www.heraldextra.com/yellowpages English class, personalfinance in place of mathorwildlife managementinsteadofscience. The new requirements could mean that students who take twoyearsof foreign language — recommended by many universities — will havelittle timeto take extraelectives until their senior year. A committee of educators and community memberswill take public comments and recommendwaysto implement the requirementsat the board’s Maymeeting.Final decisions are expected in June. The board’s plan was prompted by HouseBill 230, which would have required four classes eachin math,science and English. The board opposed thebill, but agreed to increase graduation requirementsifit was dropped. Zan Burningham,anart teacher at Skyview High School in Smithfield, said elective pro- grams at her schoolsuffered after Cache SchoolDistrict instituted graduation requirements similar to those adopted by the state school board. “Wewentfrom a marching bandof153 to 75, from 17art classesto 14,” Burningham said. “Drafting and woodworking classes are almost nonexistent now. 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