Beach stops sealing jurors’ names in criminal cases

VIRGINIA BEACH

Circuit Court judges in the city are no longer automatically sealing jurors’ names in criminal cases. 

Chief Judge Frederick Lowe said  the court’s practice had ended after he and his colleagues read a state advisory committee’s proposed rule, published in October, specifying that sealing jurors’ names should take place “only upon a finding of good cause sufficient to warrant departure from the norm of open proceedings.”

The Beach court was the only one in the region to interpret a state law passed in 2008 as granting authority to automatically seal names of jurors deciding criminal cases. Open records advocates, the Virginia Press Association and some state lawmakers, including the bill’s sponsor, had said the Beach court’s policy appeared to stretch beyond the intent of the law.

The practice was not triggered by any instances of juror intimidation, but was a precautionary step. Jurors were still identified by name in open court during the selection process.

The law called for the state Supreme Court to publish rules addressing the confidentiality of jurors’ information.

A previously proposed rule called for a shift toward anonymous juries, with jurors being referred to by number rather than name during court proceedings. That proposal has been withdrawn and replaced by a new one that states “good cause” must be established before a judge orders jurors’ names be sealed.

Good cause, under the statute enacted last year, includes “a likelihood of bribery, tampering, or physical injury to or harassment of a juror.”

As a result, Lowe said, Beach judges are no longer doing “any general, wholesale sealing” of jurors’ information.

Jurors’ names will remain part of the court file and public record. The names of those who decided criminal cases in the city between November 2008 and October will remain sealed, unless the media or a person with a “legitimate interest or need,” as described in the statute, requests the names, Lowe said.

Ginger Stanley, executive director of the Virginia Press Association, said the proposed rule represented a “much better” interpretation of the law.

Public comment on the proposed rule will be accepted until April 15. The advisory panel will decide in May whether to accept the rule, which would then need to be approved by the state Supreme Court.

Shawn Day, (757) 222-5131, shawn.day@pilotonline.com