CHICKASHA — Members of the public and Enid News & Eagle were granted access Tuesday to records sealed in May in the perjury case of an Enid attorney in Major County.

Judge Richard Van Dyck granted a motion filed by the News & Eagle to intervene in the case titled State of Oklahoma v. Eric Edwards.

Van Dyck found there were grounds for the newspaper to intervene in the case. He also ruled records in the case should be unsealed and access given to the newspaper and the public.

“The court finds the newspaper has a First Amendment right to publish the news as it finds it,” Van Dyck said. “The public needs to know what its elected officials are up to. The public has a right to know.”

The judge said he was “very aware and very mindful of any appearance of impropriety.” Van Dyck said the public’s interest in knowing the truth was greater than the need to keep the records sealed, which would only “heighten suspicions.”

News & Eagle Publisher Jeff Funk said the newspaper was pleased with the judge’s decision.

“The criminal charge against attorney Eric Edwards should have been handled as other such charges are handled — with public records in open court,” he said.

“We hope other judges take note of this ruling. The court system was designed to serve the public, all Oklahomans, and criminal cases need to remain open to the public.

“When cases are improperly closed, it gives the appearance of favoritism or improper treatment,” he said. “With openness, Oklahomans can have greater confidence in their court system.”

The records ordered unsealed Tuesday pertain to a May 17 perjury charge filed against Edwards, a charge that subsequently was dismissed.

Records of the case were sealed and removed from a state-operated court website within hours of being filed. The News & Eagle was denied access to the records and told the case was being removed from the site by order of District Judge Ray Dean Linder.

No hearings, notice of sealing the case or announcements of its removal from public view were given.

The News & Eagle filed a motion June 26 to intervene in the case and have the records unsealed. Prosecution of the case was assigned to Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater after Major County District Attorney Hollis Thorp recused his office from the matter. Van Dyck was appointed to preside over the case by Oklahoma Supreme Court Chief Justice Steven Taylor on June 28.

Van Dyck dismissed the charge against Edwards July 16, pursuant to a motion to dismiss filed by Prater on the grounds the case lacked merit.

Stephen Jones, who has represented Edwards in the case, asked Van Dyck to close the courtroom Tuesday, but the judge kept the hearing open to the public.

Mike Minnis, who represented the News & Eagle, argued that the paper’s motion to intervene was based upon the rights of the press. He also argued against Jones’ objection that the paper violated a gag order issued in the case.

“It’s based on an assumption that somehow the Enid News & Eagle has violated an order it has never seen,” Minnis told the Grady County judge. “The Enid News & Eagle has never seen the order or been given the order.”

Prater said he had no objection to the paper asking to intervene.

Jones told the court in his argument he believed the paper was not acting appropriately.

“They have unclean hands,” he said, calling the newspaper’s coverage “biased” and saying the publication “assisted in the violation of the court’s order.”

“They ask the court to allow them to intervene,” he said. “There is no right.”

Jones said the paper waited 40 days to file a motion to intervene and blatantly violated a sealing order by continuing to write news stories related to the case. He said the paper’s purpose was to embarrass Edwards.

Van Dyck allowed the paper to intervene in the case.

Jones renewed his motion to have the courtroom closed as the court heard arguments for unsealing the records and again was denied.

Minnis told the court he believed the newspaper had several rights to warrant the records be unsealed.

“The court has held there is a constitutional right, and I believe there is a statutory right, and that’s the Open Records Act,” he said.

Minnis also said there are rules that must be followed to seal records and expunge them and those rules were not followed in the case.

Prater said a motion to seal a record or a case should be an “extraordinary” circumstance, but he did understand what Linder did when he sealed the case.

“It does appear this case should be unsealed,” Prater said.

Jones said in his arguments not all court records are open to public view. He also said it was not Linder’s intent to keep the records sealed until the newspaper began reporting the case.

“If the newspaper would have just waited a few days, Judge Linder would have unsealed the records, but he was never given that opportunity,” Jones said, noting the judge wanted time to see whether Major County District Attorney Hollis Thorp had authorized the charge.

Jones also said the newspaper made a “tactical” decision by never requesting a copy of the gag order so it could use ignorance of the order as a defense.

“There is no law that everything filed in this case is an open record,” Jones said. “There is no unqualified First Amendment right to all court records.”

Jones said the court should keep a probable cause affidavit filed in the case sealed.

Minnis countered the records all should be open for the benefit of Edwards.

“If this whole case is a sham brought by a district attorney or a judge, if that is the case, the probable cause affidavit he is trying to keep sealed will not embarrass his client,” Minnis said. “If he (Linder) was going to open them, I don’t see why it is harmful now.”

Jones said there were “other matters that affect the rights of other people” in the court records, and releasing the records could bring harm to those other people.

“We’re entitled to know what happened. I don’t know what’s in the record,” Minnis said. “We don’t know. We haven’t seen the order.”

Van Dyck then ordered the records to be unsealed.

The court also dismissed a contempt charge against Major County Assistant District Attorney Danny Lohmann and lifted Linder’s gag order in the case.

The parties in the case were relieved of having to return to court Thursday for an expungement hearing, and an order for expungement of the records should be ordered Sept. 11, giving a week for copies of the unsealed records to be obtained.

Edwards attended the hearing with Jones and three others.

A request for the records from the Major County Court Clerk’s Office was denied Tuesday afternoon because Van Dyck’s order to unseal the case had not yet been received.



ENID NEWS & EAGLE staff writer James Neal contributed to this story.