8th Circuit lets Larry Flynt intervene to seek access to court records in death-penalty cases
Larry Flynt. s_bukley
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Hustler Magazine publisher Larry Flynt said he had a special interest in sealed records in federal death-penalty litigation in Missouri–the man who admittedly shot Flynt outside a state courthouse in 1978 was on Missouri’s death row.
But that fact apparently wasn’t key to a federal appeals court panel ruling in Flynt’s favor on Tuesday. It said a federal district judge erred in denying a motion to intervene by the Hustler founder and death-penalty opponent.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in its per curiam opinion (PDF) that public interest in obtaining access to court records is an appropriate basis for permissive intervention. Additionally, allowing intervention by a third party who is simply seeking court records is a more efficient use of judicial resources than requiring the issue of public access to be litigated separately, the court noted.
The matter now returns to the district court to determine whether the records sought should be made public.
Tony Rothert, who serves as legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, is representing Flynt in the effort to find out what is going on in two underlying federal cases filed by a group of Missouri prison inmates. One challenges the death penalty itself and the other challenges the state’s execution protocol. Because so many records and docket entries are sealed “it was hard to know what was even happening,” Rothert tells the Riverfront Times.
After Flynt sought to intervene to fight for access to the records, the man who shot and paralyzed him, Joseph Franklin, was executed.
Hat tip: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “Larry Flynt’s lawyer and others recall March ‘78 shooting near courthouse”
ABAJournal.com: “Larry Flynt joins with ACLU to fight execution of serial killer who shot and paralyzed him”
ABAJournal.com: “Serial killer who may have slain 22 people compares himself to Jesus, hopes for execution stay”
