OPINION

From the PNA Legal Hotline

By Melissa Melewsky, Media Law Counsel
Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association

Q: A recently-elected magisterial district judge (MDJ) has instructed his staff to redact all victim information from court records in his office. We typically don’t publish victim information, but we do use it as part of the newsgathering process. Isn’t victim information in court records public?

A: Yes. Victim information in court records is public, although there is a statute that protects the identities of minor victims of physical or sexual assault.

Judicial records, such as those on file with an magisterial district judge (MDJ), are presumptively public and must be accessible to the general public, unless a court has ordered a record sealed for good cause shown on the record. The presumption of access can only be overcome if the party seeking closure can show the need for secrecy outweighs the right of public access. Each request for closure must be evaluated on an individual basis, and a court must conduct a hearing, on the record, to determine whether closure is appropriate, and issue specific findings supporting any closure. Blanket policies that restrict access to an entire class of information are not appropriate. In addition, MDJs are not courts of record, and are therefore unable to issue ‘sealing’ orders.

Note, however, that 42 Pa.C.S. §5988 prohibits court personnel from releasing records that identify minor (under age 18) victims of physical or sexual assault. Victims who are adults at the time of an alleged crime are not covered by the statute, and their identifies cannot be withheld by an MDJ absent a sealing order from a higher court in accordance with the standards discussed above.

As a general rule, only the following documents can be withheld by MDJs and their staff:

1. documents that have been sealed by an order from a higher court (common pleas or appellate);
2. the identities of minor victims of physical or sexual assault, pursuant to 42 Pa.C.S.§5988;
3. unexecuted search warrants and their supporting documentation, pursuant to PA Rule of Criminal Procedure No. 212; and
4. the case files of minors charged with a summary offenses, pursuant to 42 Pa.C.S. §6336(g).

All other records filed in an MDJ’s office are public and must be provided upon request, in compliance with the Public Access Policy of Unified Judicial System governing paper records of the magisterial district courts.