Megan Cassidy

The Republic | azcentral.com

Prosecutors are asking a judge to seal court documents filed in the case against Leslie Allen Merritt Jr., the man accused in several of the Interstate 10 shootings that kept the Valley on edge last summer.

The motion is aimed to prevent pretrial media dissection of the case, which has garnered consistent and prominent coverage since Merritt’s September arrest.

“As long as documents filed in this court are public, there is a high likelihood that the preservation of both evidence and the jury pool will be compromised,” Deputy County Attorney Vanessa Losicco wrote in the motion, filed Wednesday. “Maintaining the integrity of the case and the jury pool is not only in the State’s best interests, but in Defendant’s as well.”

The move prompted an immediate reproach from Merritt’s defense attorneys, who said prosecutors were attempting to “decimate” Arizona’s public-records laws without legal authority.

In a defense response filed Thursday, attorneys Jason Lamm and Ulises Ferragut contended that prosecutors were eager to promote the case to the media until its coverage began to shift in Merritt’s favor.

“The State’s Motion makes it abundantly clear that its basis for making its request does not lie with the Defendant, but rather, in its frustration with the media’s reporting of public information,” the defense motion states.

The defense concludes that the prosecutor’s recent motion could be “construed as showing that the wheels are coming off of its case.”

A Maricopa County Superior Court judge already has barred attorneys from speaking publicly about the case. But prosecutors say the order doesn’t go far enough to prevent irrevocably tainting a jury pool.

Merritt was arrested on Sept. 18 after a weeks-long manhunt. The news was broken in a social-media blast by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who tweeted, “We got him!”

Officials from Arizona's Department of Public Safety said they connected him to four of the 11 incidents through bullet fragments that were matched to his gun.

But the case hit legal hurdles almost immediately. Authorities were forced to revise their timeline of the shootings shortly after Merritt’s arrest, and defense attorneys soon attempted to poke holes in the underlying investigation.

Defense attorneys last month alleged that detectives bullied a key witness and misled a grand jury in their zeal to indict Merritt, and filed a motion to remand the case back to a grand jury.

As in many cases with high public interest, each development was covered by various news outlets.

The prosecutor's motion argues that such attention could hinder efforts to select an unbiased jury.

Public-records laws typically favor disclosure. In this case, however, prosecutors point to a legal loophole that allows records to be withheld if that policy is “outweighed by considerations of confidentiality, privacy, or the best interests of the state.”

Prosecutors say the fact that reporters are still permitted to record courtroom proceedings maintains the public’s right to transparency within the criminal-justice system.

In their response, defense attorneys noted that, until recently, prosecutors had no issues with police and prosecutors holding various news conferences on the case.

“But now that the State has achieved its purpose, it has now filed a motion to restrict the media and the public from having any First Amendment and Due Process rights to the Court’s file,” the defense team wrote.

County attorney spokesman Jerry Cobb declined to comment specifically on the case. He said motions to seal are not unusual for either defense or prosecuting attorneys. They can be triggered by a number of factors, he said, including the need to protect a victim’s identification, ensuring the privacy of an individual’s medical information or protecting the integrity of an ongoing investigation.

First Amendment attorney Dan Barr said the prosecutors’ motion would infringe on the public’s right to review government actions, adding that their key argument isn’t based in reality.

“Even in the highest-profile cases, you’re able to quickly pick the juries that are not tainted by publicity,” he said.

Barr recalled the case of the late Evan Mecham, a former Arizona governor who was acquitted by a jury on charges of concealing a loan.

Defense attorneys echoed this sentiment in their motion’s closing statement:

“The reality is that if an impartial jury could be found for Jodi Arias, then it should be easy to find one for Leslie Merritt, Jr.”

Prosecutors: Grand jury not misled in I-10 shooting case