High Court excludes additional records from public access

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The Indiana Supreme Court has added more court records to the list of those that must be excluded from public access in an order amending state administrative rules.

Multiple additions were made to the list of records excluded from public access pursuant to Administrative Rule 9(G), which was amended in an order handed down Nov. 1. The additions include:

  • Entire cases exclusively pertaining to investigative requests and processes unrelated to pending criminal proceedings, including search warrants, subpoenas and investigative requests;
  • Case records created or maintained for pre-trial release and supervision and problem-solving court supervision; and
  • Records in a pending matter that a judge has ordered to be confidential and that pertain to ex parte proceedings, post-charging investigatory requests for process or requests for in camera review.

The amendments also exclude records related to violations of conditions of post-conviction supervision or entire criminal cases when a request to exclude records from public access is filed contemporaneously with a notice of violation and request for an arrest warrant. However, when probable cause to justify the issuance of a warrant has been established, the records must be publicly accessible unless a judge determines otherwise. Further, an order excluding public access expires under either circumstance once the defendant has been arrested.

The amended language further provides that if a court finds records are improperly excluded from public access, the records in question must be made available within 72 hours after notice is given to the relevant parties, a change from the previous seven-day timeframe.

The full list of administrative rule amendments, which also includes minor changes to the language of additional rules, can be read here.

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