A video showing the movements of a 30-year-old mass shooting suspect at a Colorado supermarket will be presented in court but kept from the public, a Boulder judge has ruled.
The eight-minute video depicts suspect Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa in the Boulder King Soopers on 22 March, when a nearly hour-long rampage left 10 people dead, including a police officer.
District Attorney Michael Dougherty “asked that 20th Judicial District Judge Ingrid Bakke review the video in advance of Alissa’s Sept 7 preliminary hearing, so that witnesses could refer to it during testimony without the footage being played in open court,” the Denver Post reported on Sunday. “He also requested the video be sealed until the prosecution’s entire case against Alissa is finished.”
The judge granted the request last month – sparking a debate about trial procedure and law in the state, which has an unfortunate history of mass shooting cases.
In 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire at Columbine High School in Littleton, killing 12 students and one teacher in one of the most infamous school shooting cases to ever occur. In 2012, James Holmes murdered 12 people during a screening of a Batman film at an Aurora movie theatre – less than 20 miles from the Columbine site.
For the latest case, Mr Dougherty requested that video be kept from the public to protect victims’ privacy and safeguard the defendant’s right to a fair trial. But the move has raised red flags for some legal experts.
Steve Dansberg, president of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, told the Denver Post: “It’s really a foundational principle of our country that we have open trials and open criminal proceedings in order to keep all of the parties involved honest.”
He said the judge’s one-line order was in “clear violation” of a new state law implemented earlier this year by the Colorado Supreme Court that requires judges to explain in writing why public access is being restricted.
A spokeswoman for Mr Dougherty said in an email to the Post that the DA’s office and the court were “in full compliance with the rule of law,” adding that the hearing and trial would both be public, the newspaper reported.
Former Boulder County district attorney Stan Garnett told the Post that request was “pretty unusual.”
“There is a clear First Amendment obligation for all proceedings in a case to be public,” he said. “And often the prosecution and the defence will collaborate to keep that from happening. The prosecution because they don’t want a change of venue, and the defence because they don’t want anyone to know what a (jerk) their client is.”
In the Aurora movie theatre mass shooting trial, the district attorney asked the judge to block the public’s view of graphic crime scene and autopsy photos – but his request was denied.
“As much as the Court understands and respects the family members’ desire for privacy, under the law, this is not a compelling and overriding interest that outweighs the defendant’s constitutional right to a public trial or the public’s and the media’s right of access to open proceedings,” Judge Carlos Samour wrote at the time.
