After challenge by WBIR, judge opens juvenile court proceedings, records

After a challenge from WBIR in Knoxville, Meigs County Judge Casey Stokes reversed his closure of court proceedings and records in a juvenile murder case, opening future proceedings and access to most documents, including transcripts of previous hearings.

WBIR reported on Monday the more detailed allegations against the 15-year-old revealed in the newly released court records: She went to bed angry that her father had taken away her phone and was trying to keep her from her boyfriend. Waking up later, she loaded her gun, checked on her younger brother and debated for about 20 minutes in her room before deciding to go into the living room and shoot her father. She later called 911.

Paul McAdoo, an attorney with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, represented WBIR in its challenge to the court’s closure. Through RCFP’s Local Legal Initiative, McAdoo provides free legal assistance to journalists in Tennessee.

The Megis County Juvenile Court held a closed juvenile detention hearing on June 12, two days after Richard High was found dead from a single gunshot wound to the head in his home in the Georgetown area of Meigs County.

When WBIR asked for a copy of the order closing the hearing to the public, a Circuit Court clerk told WBIR that the court said it did not need to issue a written order because the accused is a juvenile.

“Based on information provided to WBIR, it appears the Court has closed the proceedings in this case based solely on the fact that the accused is a juvenile. That is not the law,” McAdoo said in his memorandum of law in support of the motion to intervene to seek access to proceedings and records.

Juvenile court proceedings are presumed open under Tennessee law

McAdoo pointed out that Rule 114 of the Tennessee Rules of Juvenile Practice and Procedure states that juvenile “delinquent and unruly” cases are presumptively open and any closure must meet high standards laid out in the rule and be accompanied by “adequate written findings” by the court.

“Plainly, much more is required to overcome that presumption than the mere fact that the accused is a juvenile; otherwise Rule 114 would be entirely meaningless.”

The right of public access to courts in Tennessee is grounded in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as well as the Tennessee Constitution, which says in Article I, Section 17, “That all courts shall be open…”

McAdoo noted that the Tennessee Attorney General in 1981 confirmed that in addition to the First Amendment, the Tennessee Constitution in Article I, Section 17 confers “an independent right on the part of the public, press included, to attend court proceedings,” including court proceedings in juvenile courts.

In seeking access to court records, McAdoo said that Tennessee courts also have recognized that the public has both a statutory and qualified constitutional right to juvenile court records. He referenced T.C.A. § 37-1-153(b) that provides that all petitions and orders in a juvenile court proceeding are open to the public when the juvenile is older than 14 and when the conduct that the juvenile is accused of, if committed by an adult, would constitute first-degree murder and other violent crimes.

While the judge opened the proceedings, he said that audio and video recordings by the public or press will be prohibited and that media members must comply with local rules relative to notice and permission for access to hearings. The judge also said in his amended order that any documents and information relative to mental health evaluations of the juvenile would remain under protective order and could be redacted if part of a recording or transcript.