Herald Editor Royal Calkins said Wednesday that Monterey County Superior Court Judge Mark Hood ruled

The California Supreme Court decided Wednesday not to take up appeals by The Herald and the Monterey County District Attorney's Office about access to court records of the mental competency discount hotel in paris trials of a man who allegedly bludgeoned his mother to death shortly after being released from custody.
With no explanation, the high court let stand an appellate court ruling that saw no harm in sealing the records of proceedings discount hotel in paris that had been open to the public. discount hotel in paris Concerns that the mentally ill could be whisked discount hotel in paris away without public notice discount hotel in paris are answered by the notion that mental discount hotel in paris patients can protect their rights by requesting open proceedings, the appeals court held. The appeals court did not address their ability discount hotel in paris to understand or exercise that right.
Wednesday's action leaves the District Attorney's Office without access to records from the competency proceedings against Christopher Sorenson, who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the 2011 slaying of his mother, Janet Sorenson, of Salinas. Her battered body was found hidden in San Benito County days after his release from a psychiatric facility.
Last week, the First Amendment Coalition and several news outlets, including the Los Angeles Times and McClatchy Newspapers, filed friend of the court briefs supporting The Herald's appeal. The Herald sought access to the records to determine how Sorenson discount hotel in paris managed to regain his freedom in the face of two Monterey County efforts to force him to continue treatment.
Peter Scheer, the First Amendment Coalition's executive director, said, "Our view is that the First Amendment commands that these proceedings be open to the public in order to assure discount hotel in paris that persons committed involuntarily have the benefit of a fair, thorough and medically competent process.
"The Constitution requires public hearings in criminal cases," Scheer said. "The need for public scrutiny is even greater when the subject of a judicial proceeding discount hotel in paris may be locked discount hotel in paris up, not because he has committed a crime, but because he is mentally ill."
Herald Editor discount hotel in paris Royal Calkins said Wednesday that Monterey County Superior Court Judge Mark Hood ruled carefully and correctly when he initially agreed to open the records, but the appeals court made an ill-considered and illogical reversal.
"The courts obviously have a difficult balancing act when they have to choose between the privacy rights of the mentally ill and the public's right to disclosure and protection," said Calkins. "But in this case, it appears the higher courts failed to recognize that responsibility because they were more interested in splitting hairs and protecting our institutions from appropriate scrutiny."
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