United States Motion to Unseal ECF Filings — United States v. Baver (Dkt. 105, D. Utah)

Summary

The United States Motion to Unseal ECF Filings in United States of America v. Allison Marie Baver, Case No. 2:21-cr-00520-JNP, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, filed May 17, 2023. Under DUCrimR 49-2, the government asks the Court to unseal several defense pleadings, including motions to release grand jury transcripts, a motion to dismiss Count 18 of the Superseding Indictment, and motions in limine on witnesses, on evidence involving a neighbor and HOA, and to admit supporting documentation. It asks that the associated responses and replies be unsealed as well. The motion argues that the public has a common law right of access to judicial documents and that the defendant has not justified the need for sealing.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Record facts

Full text

Case 2:21-cr-00520-JNP Document 105 Filed 05/17/23 PageID.1504 Page 1 of 4




TRINA A. HIGGINS, United States Attorney (#7349)
JENNIFER K. MUYSKENS, Assistant United States Attorney (DC#475353)
JAMIE Z. THOMAS, Assistant United States Attorney (#9420)
Attorneys for the United States of America
Office of the United States Attorney
111 South Main Street, Suite 1800
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111-2176
Telephone: (801) 524-5682

                        IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
                                     DISTRICT OF UTAH

    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
                                                    UNITED STATES MOTION TO
           Plaintiff,                               UNSEAL ECF FILINGS

    vs.                                             Case No. 2:21-cr-00520-JNP

    ALLISON MARIE BAVER,                            District Judge Jill N. Parrish

           Defendant.


          The United States, by and through undersigned counsel, hereby moves the Court

pursuant to DUCrimR 49-2 to unseal the following pleadings: Defendant’s Motion to

Release Grand Jury Transcripts, Defendant’s Amended Motion to Release Grand Jury

Transcripts, Motion to Dismiss Count 18 of the Superseding Indictment, Motion in

Limine to Exclude Witnesses, Motion in Limine to Exclude Evidence Involving

Neighbor and HOA, and Motion in Limine to Admit Supporting Documentation. 1 The



1
 It is difficult to determine the ECF numbers associated with the Sealed pleadings, but the
United States believes the Sealed Pleadings at issue are ECF #s 79, 82, 83, 87, 91 or 92, 98, 102,
and 104.
                                                1

 Case 2:21-cr-00520-JNP Document 105 Filed 05/17/23 PageID.1505 Page 2 of 4




associated responses by the United States and Defendant’s Reply briefs should be

unsealed as well.

       DUCrimR 49-2(a) states:

               “The records of the court are presumptively open to the public. The
       sealing of cases, pleadings, motions, memoranda, exhibits, and other
       documents or portions thereof (Documents) is generally discouraged.
       Unless restricted by statute, case law, court order, the Federal Rules of
       Criminal Procedure, or these local rules, the public will have access to all
       Documents filed with the court and to all court proceedings. Counsel are
       encouraged to publicly file Documents and to redact personal identifiers, as
       set forth in Fed. R. Crim. P. 49.1, and confidential portions of a Document
       when they are not directly pertinent to the issues before the court.”

       The Tenth Circuit has made clear that the public generally has a right to access

court records. See United States v. McVeigh, 119 F.3d 806, 811 (10th Cir. 1997) (“It is

clearly established that court documents are covered by a common law right of access.”)

(citing Nixon v. Commonwealth, Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 599 (1978)). As the Tenth Circuit

explained, “judicial documents are presumptively available to the public, but may be

sealed if the right to access is outweighed by the interests favoring nondisclosure.” Id.

       Defendant began filing pleadings under seal on January 18, 2023. Defendant has

filed a Motion to Release Grand Jury Transcripts, an Amended Motion to Release Grand

Jury Transcripts, a Motion to Dismiss Count 18 of the Superseding Indictment, a Motion

in Limine to Exclude Witnesses, a Motion in Limine to Exclude Evidence Involving

Neighbor and HOA, and mostly recently, a Motion in Limine to Admit Supporting

Documentation. All of these pleadings were filed Under Seal without justification or a


                                             2

 Case 2:21-cr-00520-JNP Document 105 Filed 05/17/23 PageID.1506 Page 3 of 4




motion requesting sealing. None of these pleadings appear to contain information that is

highly personal or sensitive such that the Court should shield access from the public. The

United States has filed responses Under Seal since the Defendant’s pleadings were filed

Under Seal, but has noted in each filing that there appears to be no reason for the

pleadings to be sealed. (See ECF #s 84 and 96).

       On April 20, 2023, the Court issued a Memorandum Decision and Order denying

Defendant’s Motion to Release the Grand Jury Transcripts (ECF # 82) and denying

Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Count 18 of the Superseding Indictment (ECF #83). The

Court’s 19-page decision is listed on the docket and addressed the pleadings that were

filed Under Seal. Thus, there is no reason the pleadings need to remain Under Seal.

       The Court has not yet ruled on the Motion in Limine to Exclude Witnesses, the

Motion in Limine to Exclude Evidence Involving Neighbor or HOA, or the Motion in

Limine to Admit Supporting Documentation, but the pleadings do not contain

justification as to why they should be Sealed. The United States believes that these

documents should not be restricted from public access and must be unsealed. The

continued filing of pleadings under seal by the Defendant is contrary to the rules of this

Court, see DUCrimR 49-2(a), and contrary to long-standing precedent that the public has

a common law right of access to judicial documents, particularly where the Defendant

has failed to identify or to justify the need for sealing the pleadings.




                                               3

Case 2:21-cr-00520-JNP Document 105 Filed 05/17/23 PageID.1507 Page 4 of 4




     DATED this 17th day of May 2023.

                                        Respectfully Submitted,

                                        TRINA A. HIGGINS
                                        United States Attorney

                                        /s/ Jamie Z. Thomas
                                        JENNIFER K. MUYSKENS
                                        JAMIE Z. THOMAS
                                        Assistant United States Attorneys




                                         4

File and source

File

gov.uscourts.utd.129379.105.0.pdf

Size

132,686 bytes

SHA-256

2a60cb73b9239427a3d941a12f99edcd771ee28728716e3a07e1ceef13a89b1e

Our copy

gov.uscourts.utd.129379.105.0.pdf

Original

archive.org