By Lindsay Cates
The prosecutor and defense attorneys in the case against former Washington and Lee University student Nicholas Hansel continue to oppose a journalism professor’s request for public access to a secret plea agreement that was rejected by a local judge.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert “Bucky” Joyce said in a recent court filing that W&L Professor Brian Richardson has legal standing to make the request for public access to the rejected plea agreement. But Joyce said he believes that Rockbridge County Circuit Judge Michael S. Irvine’s decision to seal the record “was and remains proper.”
Defense attorneys Anthony Anderson, John Lichtenstein and John Fishwick Jr. objected to Richardson’s intervention in the case because they say he is “not authorized to represent the interests of a third party before this Court.”
In August, Irvine rejected and sealed the proposed plea agreement, which outlined a resolution of the charges against Hansel. Irvine then recused himself from the case.
Richardson, who is the head of W&L’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communications, filed a letter on Sept. 18, asking the court to unseal the rejected plea agreement. He filed the request on behalf of the journalism department to “permit our students to report, write and broadcast stories about this important case.”
Journalism students enrolled in several classes produce The Rockbridge Report, a weekly newscast and website that provide news and information about and for Lexington, the county and the region.
Judge Jay T. Swett was assigned to replace Irvine in the case, and asked the parties to respond to Richardson’s request.
Hansel, 22, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and driving under the influence in connection with the death of W&L senior Kelsey Durkin last Dec. 3. Hansel was driving an SUV whose passengers included Durkin and nine other W&L students. Authorities say Hansel lost control of the SUV, which hit a tree stump and overturned on Turkey Hill Road.
Hansel’s lawyers argue in a filing that Richardson, as a private citizen, should not receive access to the sealed plea agreement because he does not have a personal stake in the outcome of the case.
Richardson’s attorney, Alice Neff Lucan, wrote in a filing this week that Hansel’s lawyers are mistaken.
“Indeed, if journalists and interested citizens did not have standing to intervene under these circumstances, then orders sealing judicial records and proceedings would be categorically insulated from challenge so long as the prosecution and defense agreed on sealing. This would leave the public and press with a recognized constitutional and statutory right of access and no way to assert it, an absurd result,” she wrote.
In a filing last month, Lucan said the Sixth Amendment guarantees an open trial, and public access protects the criminal trial process.
“Denial of access to this plea agreement has already closed off the public’s view of the way this case will be handled,” she wrote.
Lucan is seeking immediate access to the plea agreement and all associated documents based on what she says is the public’s need and right to access information about the case.
“Delay simply eviscerates public oversight, making it harder or impossible for the community to understand what happened, much less evaluate the performance of the judges and lawyers who created the outcome,” she wrote.
Swett has scheduled a hearing for Dec. 10. Hansel’s trial is set for Jan. 20.