In re Gee

State: Illinois

Court: 4th District Appellate

Docket No: 4-10-0275 NRel

Case Date: 12/08/2010

Preview:ILLINOIS OFFICIAL REPORTS
Appellate Court

In re Gee, 2010 IL App (4th) 100275

Appellate Court Caption

In re THE RAYMOND GEE AND THE GEE FAMILY HOMICIDE INVESTIGATION (The People of the State of Illinois, PlaintiffAppellee, v. CHRISTOPHER HARRIS, Intervenor-Appellee (The State Journal-Register, The Pantagraph, and The Herald and Review, Intervenors-Appellants)).

District & No.

Fourth District Docket No. 4-10-0275 December 8, 2010 August 18, 2011 In proceedings on a petition filed by several newspapers in a high profile murder prosecution, the trial court properly refused to unseal an affidavit supporting the search warrant issued in the case and an inventory and return of the warrant, since even assuming a qualified right of access to the documents existed, that right was outweighed by the substantial probability that disclosure would compromise the ongoing investigation.

Filed Rehearing denied Held
(Note: This syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the court but has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader.)

Decision Under Review

Appeal from the Circuit Court of Logan County, No. 09-MR-73; the Hon. Thomas M. Harris, Judge, presiding.

Counsel on Appeal

Donald M. Craven and Esther J. Seitz (argued), both of Donald M. Craven, P.C., of Springfield, for appellants. Michael McIntosh, State's Attorney, of Lincoln (Patrick Delfino, Robert J. Biderman, and Anastacia R. Brooks (argued), all of State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor's Office, of counsel), for the People. James E. Elmore, of Elmore & Reed, Matthew J. Maurer (argued), of Law Office of Matthew Maurer, and Patrick T. Timoney, of Timoney & Page, all of Springfield, for appellee Christopher Harris.

Panel

PRESIDING JUSTICE KNECHT delivered the opinion of the court, with opinion. Justices Turner and Pope concurred in the judgment and opinion. Affirmed.

Judgment

OPINION

Download In re Gee.pdf