Constitutional Law

News media win access to Loughner search-warrant records

By By The Associated Press

TUCSON, Ariz. — Records of a police search of the home of the suspect in the Tucson shooting rampage were released yesterday after the judge overseeing the case granted news organizations? request to unseal the files.

The Arizona Republic and KPNX-TV had argued that there was no basis for the records to remain sealed and that the public had a right to the documents. The search warrants, used by police to go into the home of Jared Lee Loughner after the Jan. 8 attack that killed six, had been sealed since Jan. 11.

Loughner?s attorneys had argued that their client?s right to a fair trial might be harmed by the release of the records. They said the documents contained potentially inflammatory statements by a law enforcement officer.

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns ruled yesterday that many of the records should be released. However, he said some files would remain sealed, such as any that contain information that may be inflammatory or that will not be admissible at trial.

The documents released yesterday show that police found two shotguns, ammunition and drawings of weapons in Loughner?s home. The search warrants also show police seized a printout of the U.S. Constitution, a journal, a notebook with writing, poems, song lyrics and a handwritten note that read: ?What is government if words don?t have a meaning??

All the items were found in the home, where Loughner lived with his parents.

Loughner, 22, pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges of trying to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killing six people.

Also included in the newly released documents were more details about what was found in a safe inside Loughner?s room, where the documents say a note was found that read: ?I planned ahead! My Assassination Love - Jared - Giffords.? The actual notes were not provided, and it?s not clear from the search warrant how the words relate to one another.

Police previously described the notes as separate messages that read: ?I planned ahead,? ?My assassination,? and ?Giffords.? They also said another note was found that read ?Die, bitch,? in what they believe was a reference to Giffords.

Also inside the safe were locking instructions for a firearm and other handwritten notes that say ?priceless,? ?DT? and ?shrooms.?

The records do not elaborate on what was found in the journals or what most of the writings said.

A call to Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik for an explanation of what was contained in the writings was not returned in time for this story.

In the documents, Pima County Sheriff?s Detective Christopher Hogan referred to a ?contact? Loughner had with Marana police in which he was found spray-painting street signs with ?extremist-type symbols.? Hogan did not describe the symbols, and a charge of criminal damage was dismissed after Loughner completed a diversion program.

Elsewhere in Loughner?s house, police found job applications, rolls of film, music CDs, VHS cassette tapes, and a complaint form from Pima Community College.

Loughner was kicked out of Pima Community College because of behavior that campus police considered disturbing. He was told to get a mental health evaluation or not return.

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on March 09, 2011 (boomark / email).