‘VERY newsworthy’ communications in Turtleboy case to remain hidden from public
Communications turned over by prosecutors in the witness intimidation cases against the blogger Aidan Kearney, who goes by " Turtleboy " online, will remain shielded from public view, despite efforts from his lawyers to release the documents from protective orders .
Lawyers for Kearney argued in July that the materials should be released from secrecy following the verdict in the Karen Read case.
In the motion, they claimed the documents they want released show "at best highly questionable, and at worst, corrupt activity on the part of government officials."
But Norfolk Superior Court Judge Michael Doolin ruled there was reason to keep the materials out of public view.
"Restrictions on the dissemination of discovery materials were, and remain, necessary to prevent unfairly prejudicial pretrial publicity which might hamper the selection of an impartial jury and to protect the privacy interests of third parties," Doolin wrote in his order.
Kearney, taking to social media, said the emails and texts his team obtained contain "VERY newsworthy information on matters of public concern."
Among the reasons cited by Doolin for keeping the materials secret was Kearney's own behavior.
During discovery, Kearney obtained an unredacted copy of a witness's cellphone extraction and subsequently agreed to a protective order barring him from sharing information on it unrelated to his defense.
Yet Kearney "continued to share this witness's private information that was not pertinent to his defense," Doolin wrote, adding that he did not stop even after a second protective order was issued.
Kearney's team did get a win on a different issue, as Doolin ordered special prosecutor Kenneth Mello removed from one of the three pending cases against Kearney in Norfolk Superior Court.
Mello was the first special prosecutor assigned to the case against Kearney, but has not been present for several recent court hearings.
In his place, retired judge Robert Cosgrove has taken up the role as the lead special prosecutor in all three of Kearney's pending cases.
Doolin disqualified Mello because he could be called as a witness by either the commonwealth or by Kearney's defense. Mello received "communications from a witness while the alleged crimes were being committed," thus making him a potential witness, Doolin found.
As a result, he "must be disqualified," the judge found.
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