The Connecticut Supreme Court has rejected an appeal in a case that could have restricted the release of police records routinely used by the media to report crime stories.
The ruling comes in the case of Adam Gault, who made national news in 2007 when police found a teenager missing for a year hiding in his home.
Police obtained an arrest warrant for Gault on Oct. 3, 2007, charging him with kidnapping in the first degree for the purpose of committing a sexual assault.
The court ordered that the affidavit be sealed for 14 days and the victim filed a motion to extend the order indefinitely, arguing that her right to protect her identity overrode the right the public has to inspect the affidavit.
On Nov. 16, 2007, the trial court decided that the affidavit could be unsealed, as long as information that reasonable could be used to identify or find the victim was removed.
The court determined that the victim’s rights amendment offers many rights for crime victims, but does not include the right to appeal.
“A criminal prosecution is a public matter and not a contest between the defendant and his victims, or their relatives,” the court documents state.
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State legislation limits the role the victim crime advocate plays in a case to “a limited special appearance rather than as a full party in the case.”
While the victim in the Gault case retained a private attorney, the court decided that the Legislature would allow greater participatory rights than it allows the victim advocate.
While a constitutional amendment for victim’s right was debate in the state Legislature, states attorneys expressed concern about the delays that extensive victim participation in criminal proceedings might bring about.
