Posted on 04/06/2007 11:12:33 PM PDT by Dacb
School Violence Experts Prevented From Reviewing Material
DENVER -- Statements made by the parents of the teenage gunmen who attacked Columbine High School will remain sealed for 20 years, frustrating at least one victim's parent who believes knowing what happened before the shootings could help prevent similar tragedies.
U.S. District Judge Lewis T. Babcock's ruling Monday also prohibits a school violence expert and his assistants from reviewing the documents.
"It can save lives, no question about it," said Brian Rohrbough, whose son Daniel was one of 12 students slain on April 20, 1999. A teacher and the two gunmen also died. "Knowing what was going on in their homes is absolutely paramount to learn how to prevent this from happening again."
Attorneys for the parents of gunmen Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris did not return messages left after business hours. Documents from a federal lawsuit include sworn statements made by the Harrises and Klebolds, as well as records regarding the gunmen's participation in a juvenile diversion program in 1998 and 1999.
The National Archives and Records Administration will get the records.
Jefferson County sheriff's officials previously made a decision under the state's open records law to not release videotapes of the gunmen out of concern they would encourage copycat attacks.
Babcock said similar arguments in the federal case means the balance "still strikes in favor of maintaining strict confidentiality."
Rohrbough said he strongly disagreed with that decision and called the logic "flawed and bogus."
"Unless you're saying that the parents taught the kids how to shoot up a school, it would be hard to image that releasing these documents could lead to a copycat crime," Rohrbough said.
The Colorado Attorney General Suthers earlier had asked Babcock to allow University of Colorado researcher Delbert Elliott to access the documents as part of his work on preventing school violence. The Jefferson County sheriff's office has expressed concern that allowing Elliott to review the documents could open access to others.
A magistrate ordered the documents destroyed in 2003, upsetting some victims' families who said the statements could contain lessons to prevent school shootings. U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock then proposed storing the documents under seal for 25 years.
Weird.
Follow up on one of your older posts.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1774396/posts#comment?q=1
“...participation in a juvenile diversion program in 1998 and 1999.”
Key words for the cause of the sealing I would imagine. All of the items in there about how the state was warned of how dangerous these scum were, but they didn’t listen, etc. - in 20 years they’ll all be gone gathering their pensions.
Columbine Killer Writes that “A School Is No Place For A Gun”
http://www.washingtonceasefire.com/content/view/36/37/
...Let me get this straight, the New York Times and other MSM outlets are leaking all our US military secrets screaming “Freedom of Press” the whole time, but these documents are sealed away from everyone?
Thank a Liberal: This nation is ****** :(
The Judiciary: Kings among men.
The National Archives and Records Administration will get the records.
Send Sandy Burgler!
It does seem like the obvious conclusion. I’d like to know if the courts normally waive confidentiality in extreme cases like this - the ‘clients’ killed several people and then suicided. It almost requires waiving confidentiality to investigate any responsibility on the agency’s part. Are there any Colorado attorneys out there?
I’d like to hear from an attorney, period. Is the judge protecting Klebold and Harris’ parents’ privacy, or something else?
Exactly. Who’s really being protected and why?
Babcock f***ed up.
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