PHOENIX (AP)
-- A judge has lifted his order that prevented the release of
investigation records in the Tucson shooting rampage that killed six
people and wounded former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords two years ago.
The
order signed Monday by U.S. District Judge Larry Burns and released
Tuesday grants a motion by the Arizona Daily Star, a Tucson newspaper.
Burns
sealed the records to ensure Jared Loughner's right to a fair trial.
But Burns said Loughner's guilty plea ends the need to keep the records
sealed.
It's now up to the Pima County Sheriff's Office to respond to media requests for records.
Prosecutors didn't object to releasing the information.
But
Judy Clarke, a California-based attorney for Loughner, urged Burns to
recognize "privacy interests of the witnesses and victims, including the
defendant's family."
In court filings last
week, she added that "records of this nature are not typically publicly
available in a federal criminal action" and "a driving concern for
federal oversight in such cases is the need to protect defendants
prosecuted for such sensational crimes from harm or potential public
backlash."
Loughner, 24, pleaded guilty to 19
federal charges and was transported back to a federal prison medical
facility in Springfield, Mo., where he has been treated for
schizophrenia.
Loughner was sentenced in
November to seven consecutive life sentences, plus 140 years, for the
Jan. 8, 2011, shootings that killed six people and wounded 13, including
Giffords, at an event outside a Tucson grocery store.
Arizona's
chief federal judge and a 9-year-old girl were among those killed in
the rampage. Giffords was left partially blind with a paralyzed right
arm and brain injury. She resigned from Congress last year.
Burns
allowed Star Publishing to intervene in the case seeking the release of
investigate materials last week and said "the court is inclined to
agree ... that the protective order should be vacated."
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Copyright 2013 The Associated Press modified.
