Opinion ID: 391003
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Procedural Rights of the Individual Defendants

Text: 33 The individual defendants, though on different grounds, also protested public access to the seized documents and, with one minor exception, their claims, like the Church's, fell within the trial court's ancillary jurisdiction in criminal cases, as we interpret that concept. 70 This is because the claims, though closely related to the criminal proceedings, were separable from them; their determination did not require the district court and will not require us to decide questions inextricably intertwined with the propriety of the criminal conviction. This conclusion reflects our assessment of the separability from the criminal proceeding of the claims raised on their face; but it also inevitably reflects our judgment on the merits that the interests asserted can and should be evaluated independently of the defendants' motion to suppress the fruits of the search of Church premises. 34 The one claim made that cannot be divorced from the criminal proceedings themselves was that release of the documents violated the negotiated plea disposition. 71 We do not consider this claim to fall within the trial court's ancillary criminal jurisdiction. Accordingly, we do not address it, but leave it for consideration on appeal from the criminal conviction if the defendants wish to raise it at that time. 35 A brief summary of the remaining interests asserted by the individual defendants will demonstrate their ancillary nature. The defendants argued: that publication would vitiate the benefits of possible reversal of their convictions on appeal; would interfere with the proceedings commenced and orders entered in the federal courts in California; would prejudice fair trial rights in other criminal proceedings; and would violate the privacy rights of individuals mentioned or discussed in the seized documents. 72 None of these claims is inextricably bound up in an assessment of the validity of the judgment of conviction. Even the fair trial rights assertedly jeopardized by public access to the documents at issue presented an ancillary question. This is because the defendants did not seek to protect from unfair publicity the proceedings then in being but rather any subsequent proceedings in which they or other indicted individuals might be defendants.