Bulger-jurors

United States District Court

District of Massachusetts

Notice of Electronic Filing

The following transaction was entered on 8/12/2013 at 3:33 PM EDT and filed on 8/12/2013
Case Name:	USA v. Weeks et al
Case Number:	1:99-cr-10371-DJC
Filer:
Document Number:	 1300(No document attached)
Docket Text:
Judge Denise J. Casper: ELECTRONIC ORDER entered re: D. [1294] [1296]. On August 9, 2013, the Boston Globe filed a motion seeking disclosure of the identities of the jurors in this case. D. 1295. On the same day, the Associated Press also moved for the same relief. D. 1296. Prior to trial, the Court found it necessary to withhold the names and addresses of jurors to minimize the risk that other individuals would expose jurors to extra-judicial information or influences that would injure the parties' rights to a fair trial. See United States v. Hurley (In re Globe Newspaper Co.), 920 F.2d 88, 91 (1st Cir. 1990) (permitting courts to withhold names of jurors upon findings of "specific, valid reasons necessitating confidentiality"); D. 1010 at 134-35. Now that the jury has returned a verdict and this trial has ended today, the Court does not have the same concern.

That having been said, each juror seated in this case, a private citizen who did nothing more than answer the call of jury service, retains a legitimate interest in having their privacy protected. United States v. DiMasi, 795 F. Supp. 2d 115, 116 (D. Mass. 2011) and cases cited. This interest must be balanced against the media's First Amendment right of access to these proceedings including the identities of the jurors who deliberated and decided this case. Id. Given the scope and breadth of the charges and circumstances in this case, the public interest in this case has and remains strong. However, as judges presiding in other cases in this district that have generated great public interest have concluded, even where disclosure of jurors' identities is warranted, the timing of such disclosure is appropriate to consider in balancing the jurors' and the public's respective interests in this information. See, e.g., DiMasi, 795 F. Supp. 2d at 116; Sullivan v. Nat'l Football League, 839 F. Supp. 6, 7 (D. Mass. 1993); United States v. Butt, 753 F. Supp. 44, 46 (D. Mass. 1990). Here, given the jurors' length of service in this trial, the sacrifice they have made in serving on this case and the need for the jurors to have a short time to recover from the duty of serving in a matter of this magnitude and intensity, the Court concludes that a reasonable balance between the competing interests warrants a four-day delay in releasing the jurors' names. Moreover, particularly in light of the continuing public interest in this case, "[t]he values to be promoted by press access to the names and addresses of the jurors are no less advanced" four days after the return of the verdict. Butt, 753 F. Supp. at 45 (quoting United States v. Doherty, 675 F. Supp. 719, 725 (D. Mass. 1987)); see Hurley, 920 F.2d at 98 (citing Doherty). Accordingly, the motions are ALLOWED in part and the names and city/town of the jurors will be docketed on Friday, August 16, 2013 before noon. (Hourihan, Lisa)