The Hawaii Supreme Court should unseal the transcripts of closed court proceedings in State Department special agent Christopher Deedy’s murder trial, the Star-Advertiser and Hawaii News Now urged in a request filed Friday.
The newspaper and its television news partner also want the high court to issue an order prohibiting Circuit Judge Karen Ahn from closing future court proceedings in the Deedy case or any other criminal case without first giving the public a chance to object.
Ahn presided over the highly publicized seven-week Deedy trial, which ended with the jury deadlocked and the judge declaring a mistrial Aug. 26.
Before her ruling, the judge called the lawyers to a private bench conference with the jury out of the courtroom.
The packed gallery watched the lawyers huddling with the judge for about 20 minutes before the judge cleared the courtroom.
When the public was allowed back in the courtroom about 10 minutes later, the judge polled the jurors, who affirmed more deliberations would not help them reach a verdict.
She then declared the mistrial.
The judge also earlier in the day held other closed court proceedings in the Deedy case.
The news organizations’ petition, filed by attorney Jeffrey Portnoy, said it is "beyond debate" that Ahn violated the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment by clearing the courtroom and sealing the transcripts without giving the public and media a chance to object.
"These actions excluded members of the public, including the press, from criminal proceedings that they presumptively had a right to attend, and denied them access to transcripts that they presumptively have a right to review," the request said.
"Secrecy does not increase the public’s confidence in our court system," said Dennis Francis, president and publisher of the Star-Advertiser.
Deedy’s attorney Brook Hart had no comment to the request.
City Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro said the case is pending with a retrial and that the judge has the "discretion" of what information should be made public.
He said the judge must "preserve the integrity of the process" and make sure information "prejudicial" to a fair trial is not made public.
"I’m not going to question when she closes the courtroom to do that," he said.
Ahn had no comment, according to a Judiciary spokeswoman.
The five-member high court’s options include granting or rejecting the petition. The court could also direct the judge to respond to the media’s request and possibly conduct a hearing before making a decision.
Ahn is scheduled to meet with the prosecution and defense Friday to set a date for a retrial. The judge had suggested May or June.
Deedy, 29, a Virginia resident who was here to provide security for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, is charged with murdering Kollin Elderts in the shooting at the McDonald’s Kuhio Avenue restaurant in Waikiki early Nov. 5, 2011.
The 23-year-old Kailua man was fatally shot in the chest.
The case drew widespread interest from the public and the most intense news coverage for any court case in years. The courtroom gallery was usually packed during the trial.
The prosecution argued that Deedy was a "bully with a badge" who instigated and escalated the deadly confrontation with Elderts.
Deedy maintained he was acting as a law enforcement officer in shooting Elderts, who was punching him in the face and grabbing for the agent’s gun.
The Star-Advertiser, Hawaii News Now and the online news website Hawaii Reporter went to court last year to oppose a request by city prosecutors to seal until trial the McDonald’s surveillance videos that recorded the shooting scene.
Hart filed a copy of the video recording with a request to dismiss the murder charge.
Over objections by Hart, Ahn granted the prosecution’s request. She said she wanted to avoided tainting prospective jurors and jeopardizing a fair trial.
During the trial, the video images were repeatedly shown to the jurors.
The panel’s only choices were to convict or acquit Deedy on the second-degree murder charge. Ahn had ruled she didn’t think there was any evidence to support the option of returning a conviction on a lesser manslaughter charge.
After about five days of deliberations, the jury panel ended up deadlocked 8-4 in favor of acquittal.
