Opinion ID: 503768
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Disclosure in the Present Case

Text: 24 Although many of the oft-asserted justifications for confidential treatment of presentence reports are not valid, we do not mean to suggest that presentence reports should be released to third parties routinely. A presentence report is prepared primarily for court use, although an ancillary function is to aid agency decisionmaking. Julian v. United States Dep't of Justice, 806 F.2d 1411, 1415 (9th Cir.1986), cert. granted, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 3209, 96 L.Ed.2d 695 (1987). Consequently, a third party who asks a court to disclose the report must make some threshold showing that disclosure will serve the ends of justice. See Berry v. Department of Justice, 733 F.2d 1343, 1352 (9th Cir.1984). As we have observed in a somewhat analogous circumstance, 25 [w]e cannot treat this test [that is, demonstration of a need for disclosure that serves the end of justice] in vacuo. We must take recognition first of the fact that whether such a need exists is a matter designedly left initially to the discretion of the trial judge. In the absence of an absolute prohibition against disclosure, an exercise of judicial discretion is manifestly required. 26 U.S. Indus., Inc. v. United States Dist. Court, 345 F.2d 18, 21 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 382 U.S. 814, 86 S.Ct. 32, 15 L.Ed.2d 62 (1965). 3 But whether disclosure is warranted in a given case requires the court to balance the need for disclosure against the reasons for confidentiality. Id. In other words, if the reasons for maintaining [confidentiality] do not apply at all in a given case, or apply only to an insignificant degree, the party seeking disclosure should not be required to demonstrate a large compelling need. Id. (emphasis added).
27 We turn first to the newspaper's request for disclosure. This request is based on two grounds. First, the newspaper contends that it has a first amendment right of access to the desired documents. Second, the newspaper asserts that disclosure will serve the public interest by informing the public about the sentencing process. Because we conclude that the public interest rationale supports disclosure given the unusual facts of this case, we do not reach the newspaper's first amendment argument. 4 28 The interest in disclosure asserted by the newspaper has its roots in the common law right to inspect and copy public records and documents, including judicial records and documents. Nixon v. Warner Communications, Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 598, 98 S.Ct. 1306, 1312, 55 L.Ed.2d 570 (1978) (footnotes omitted). The common law right of access accomplishes many of the purposes served by the first amendment. Valley Broadcasting Co. v. United States Dist. Court, 798 F.2d 1289, 1293 (9th Cir.1986). Consequently, a common law right of access has been acknowledged when the party seeking access has manifested a desire to keep a watchful eye on the workings of public agencies. Nixon, 435 U.S. at 598, 98 S.Ct. at 1312. Similarly, access to court records has been justified by a newspaper publisher's intention to publish information concerning the operation of government. Id. The common law right to inspect and copy court records, however, is not absolute. Id. at 598, 98 S.Ct. at 1312; Valley Broadcasting, 798 F.2d at 1293. Neither is this common law right of constitutional dimension, Valley Broadcasting, 798 F.2d at 1293, nor is it given the same level of protection accorded constitutional rights. Id. But it also is clear that [t]he importance of public access to judicial records and documents cannot be belittled. In re Special Grand Jury, 674 F.2d 778, 781 (9th Cir.1982). 29 The Supreme Court has noted some limits on the common law right of access: 30 Every court has supervisory power over its own records and files, and access has been denied where court files might have become vehicles for improper purposes. For example, the common-law right of inspection has bowed before the power of a court to insure that its records are not used to gratify private spite or promote public scandal through the publication of the painful and sometimes disgusting details of a divorce case. Similarly, courts have refused to permit their files to serve as reservoirs of libelous statements for press consumption, or as sources of business information that might harm a litigant's competitive standing. 31 Nixon v. Warner Communications, 435 U.S. at 598, 98 S.Ct. at 1312 (citations omitted); see also Valley Broadcasting, 798 F.2d at 1293 (quoting Nixon ). Here, however, the newspaper's interest in the Schlette presentence report and related documents is not founded on a base motive to publish an exploitive account of the sad details of Malcolm Schlette's life and William Weissich's death. Rather, the newspaper wants to publish information that bears on the workings of the criminal justice system. The public is legitimately interested when a former public prosecutor is murdered by a felon whose conviction he obtained. This public interest is particularly strong when a felon who has vowed over a thirty-year period to kill his prosecutor shoots the prosecutor dead while out on probation for a firearm offense. 32 In a recent case, we permitted the press access to a post-trial memorandum filed by the government in response to a sentence reduction motion made by a defendant convicted in connection with the highly publicized John deLorean cocaine episode. CBS, Inc. v. United States Dist. Court, 765 F.2d 823 (9th Cir.1985). In CBS, we stated in dicta that allowing access to a document under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 35 is not to be read to disapprove the practice of keeping presentence reports confidential. Id. at 826. Our opinion in the present case does not conflict with this statement in CBS. We agree that presentence reports are confidential documents. But confidentiality is not some talismanic utterance that can justify a refusal to disclose the contents of a presentence report when a sufficient showing supporting disclosure has been made. Just what showing may be sufficient, however, must be assessed on a case-by-case basis. The extent of the showing will vary as the need for confidentiality varies. See U.S. Indus., Inc. v. United States Dist. Court, 345 F.2d 18, 21 (9th Cir.) (If the reasons for maintaining [confidentiality] do not apply at all in a given case, or apply only to an insignificant degree, the party seeking disclosure should not be required to demonstrate a large compelling need.), cert. denied, 382 U.S. 814, 86 S.Ct. 32, 15 L.Ed.2d 62 (1965). In any event, in the face of a showing of a reasonable basis for disclosure, confidentiality cannot rest on some general rationale that has been proven empirically false, or on some reason for nondisclosure which we have determined to be an inappropriate basis for maintaining confidentiality. See Berry, 733 F.2d at 1352-56. 33 In CBS we observed that [t]he penal structure is the least visible, least understood, least effective part of the justice system; and each ... failure is consequent from the others. Public examination, study, and comment is essential if the corrections process is to improve. CBS, 765 F.2d at 826. The newspaper has a legitimate interest in explaining to a concerned public the means by which sentencing decisions are made. Making the public aware of how the criminal justice system functions surely serves the ends of justice. Publishing sufficient information to allow the public to join in a dialogue about the courts and the treatment of defendants can only have a positive impact on the public's perception of our judicial system. If the system has flaws, it is all the better that these flaws be exposed and subjected to public comment. 34 No legitimate reason for preserving the secrecy of the Schlette presentence report, the psychiatric report, 5 or the postsentence probation report has been articulated by the district court or by the government. The district court described the newspaper's asserted interest in disclosure as nothing more than a vehicle for satisfying public curiosity about the sentencing process involved in this remarkable case. The district court commented that: the general interest of the public in the operation of the system of criminal justice was insufficient to justify disclosure in the face of the need to ensure a free flow of information to the sentencing court. As we have previously stated, however, the newspaper has a common law right of access to the presentence report and related documents. We have also explained that the free flow of information argument is not a valid justification for nondisclosure. No other legitimate basis for maintaining confidentiality has been articulated by either the district court or the government. Accordingly, the newspaper is entitled, subject to any appropriate redacting by the district court as hereafter mentioned, to see the requested documents and make notes from them.
35 In support of its motion for disclosure, the estate argues that it requires access to the presentence report and the related documents so that it can determine whether it has a cause of action for negligence based upon the probation service's failure to warn Weissich of the threat posed to him by Schlette. The government argues that this is nothing more than a request for disclosure made to facilitate a civil lawsuit, and as such it is an insufficient showing of need on which to predicate an order releasing an otherwise confidential court record. 36 In general, we agree with the government. Presentence reports should not be made available to civil plaintiffs to save them time in preparing lawsuits. However, a central element in the showing required of a third person seeking disclosure is the degree to which the information in the presentence report cannot be obtained from other sources. United States v. Charmer Indus., Inc., 711 F.2d 1164, 1177 (2d Cir.1983). In the present case, unlike Charmer, the information contained in the presentence report cannot be obtained elsewhere. It is what is in the report, and the related documents, that is important. The government argues that the estate can depose Schlette's probation officers and the psychiatrist who evaluated him and obtain this information. These procedures, however, will not produce the report. The theory of the estate's contemplated action against the probation service is that the probation service knew Schlette posed a threat to Weissich and did nothing about it. We express no opinion on whether the estate may state a claim based upon this theory. For purposes of considering disclosure of the requested documents, however, it is sufficient that the requested documents are relevant to a contemplated claim and that the information contained in them cannot be obtained elsewhere. If the probation service knew of Schlette's threats to kill Weissich and failed to include this information in its report to the court, this could be an important fact. If the probation service knew of Schlette's threat to kill Weissich and reported it to the court, and the court decided Schlette should be placed on probation, this is also relevant. It may be the case that the probation service had no information whatsoever to suggest that at the time Schlette was placed on probation for the firearm violation he was a danger to Weissich. But whatever information is actually contained in the report, it is the report itself, and the related documents (the psychiatric report and the postsentence probation report) which are relevant to the estate's contemplated action. 37 We conclude that the estate has made a sufficient threshold showing of a legitimate need for disclosure of the presentence report, the psychiatric report, and the postsentence probation report. As with the newspaper's request for disclosure, neither the court nor the government has articulated any valid reason for maintaining confidentiality of these documents. IV