Posted on 10/16/2007 2:59:52 PM PDT by SmithL
NASHVILLE – A federal judge today rejected this newspaper’s motion to unseal records related to an FBI wiretap placed on then-state senator John Ford’s phone in 2005.
In rejecting the request by The Commercial Appeal, U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell said he must balance a range of conflicting interests, including Ford’s right to a fair trial. The Memphis Democrat is set to stand trial here Nov. 6 on six public corruption charges.
“There’s a whole witches’ brew of things that have to be balanced,’’ Campbell said. The judge said he also weighed the public’s right to open courts and privacy rights of innocent third parties captured on FBI recordings.
“If I’m wrong they (an appeals court) will correct me,’’ he said.
The newspaper filed a motion to intervene after Campbell sealed records related to an unsuccessful motion by Ford’s lawyer to keep wiretap evidence out of the ex-lawmaker’s upcoming trial. Those records include transcripts of secretly taped calls, including a February 2005 conversation between Ford and his brother, former Congressman Harold Ford Sr.
The FBI tapped John Ford’s cell phone during Operation Tennessee Waltz, an undercover sting that led to his conviction in Memphis this year on a bribery count. Prosecutors now plan to use wiretap evidence from the Waltz operation to pursue a separate case here in which Ford, 65, is accused of concealing $800,000 in kickbacks from state contractors.
The newspaper’s attorney, Brian Faughnan, had asked Campbell to release Ford’s motion to suppress, a response by prosecutors and supporting documents – all sealed – arguing that the records that convinced the judge to allow wiretap evidence into the trial were essentially public property.
“It’s a very disappointing ruling from the public’s standpoint,’’ Faughnan said after the hearing.
Campbell said the newspaper could renew its motion at a later date, suggesting it might have better success when pretrial publicity that might affect Ford’s right to a fair trial was no longer a factor.
a whole “witches’ brew!” sounds sexist
Is this the same judge that recently denied the motion from Ford's lawyers to not allow the files to be used at all?
Maybe the judge just want to make sure Ford faces the music.
So the paper has to wait for the trial - why is that bad?
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