Steptoe Wins in Two Separate Cases for Media Clients

On December 23, Steptoe partners David Bodney and Peter Kozinets won two separate public records cases involving media access to evidence in high–profile criminal cases. Acting on behalf of The Arizona Republic, they persuaded the Apache County Superior Court to unseal letters from the wife and daughters of an eastern Arizona man killed by a 9–year–old boy that were written to the judge charged with deciding the boy’s fate; the letters asked that the boy be placed in juvenile detention rather than allowed to remain free with his mother, and the judge stated that the letters had a direct impact on the court’s sentencing decision. In a separate matter on behalf of KPNX–TV, the NBC affiliate in Phoenix, the Steptoe team persuaded a judge in Yavapai County to unseal certain documents in a case involving a self–help guru who ran a retreat near Sedona, AZ where three people died after a sweat lodge ceremony.

To learn more about the cases, please see the following reports:

• Media attorney declares records win in 2 big cases, Associated Press
• Victims’ kin urged judge to imprison boy killer, Associated Press
• Letters unsealed in St. Johns case, The Arizona Republic
• Sweat Lodge search warrant opened, The Camp Verde Bugle
• Self-help guru's retreat  culminates in grueling sweat lodge ritual - and 3 deaths, The Daily Courier