Killens v. Anglea
- Haywood Gilliam
- 4:19-cv-02621
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Killens v. Anglea, Judge Gilliam granted the respondent’s request to keep two probation-report exhibits confidential during the case and any appeal.
The respondent may keep Exhibits 15 and 16, which contain probation-related personal information about Jordan Luis Killens and Richard Ravanesh Singh, under seal during the case and any appellate proceedings; public access to those exhibits is restricted.
What happened
In Killens v. Anglea, Jordan Luis Killens challenged a state-court conviction through a federal petition. The respondent asked to file probation officer memoranda and reports under seal.
The court explained that court records are generally open to the public, but sealing may be justified by a compelling reason. The reports contained highly personal information, including family, employment, medical, psychological, arrest, and military histories.
Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr. granted the request to file Exhibits 15 and 16 under seal. The exhibits must remain sealed until the case and any appeals end, after which they may be returned or destroyed under the courts’ normal records policy.
The detailed version
- Killens v. Anglea · No. 4:19-cv-02621
- Haywood Gilliam
- Nov. 19, 2019
Background
Jordan Luis Killens, identified as a state prisoner, filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging a conviction from Monterey County Superior Court. The respondent answered the court’s order requiring a response to the petition’s claims and asked to file under seal probation officer memoranda, reports, and supplemental reports concerning Killens and his codefendant, Richard Ravanesh Singh.
Sealing request
The respondent argued that California rules make personal information in probation reports confidential. The court noted the strong presumption that the public may access court records, which can be overcome only by a compelling reason. It found that probation reports are designed to contain highly personal information about a defendant, including arrest records, family background, employment, and military, medical, and psychological histories. The court concluded that disclosure of this information could allow the records to be used for improper purposes and therefore found a compelling need for confidentiality.
Ruling
The court granted the respondent’s motion to file Exhibits 15 and 16 to the answer under seal. The exhibits must remain sealed until the conclusion of the case and any appellate proceedings. If the respondent’s counsel does not request their return after those proceedings, the documents will be destroyed under the federal courts’ normal records-destruction policy. The order terminated docket entry 25. This order decided the sealing request, not the merits of Killens’s petition.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.