Jones v. City Of New York
- George Daniels
- 1:18-cv-04064
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Jones v. City of New York, Judge Parker ordered grand-jury minutes unsealed for counsel to review and copy.
Henry Jones’s counsel, the Bronx Supreme Court clerk and/or the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office, and the grand-jury materials identified in the order.
What happened
Jones v. City of New York is a civil-rights case in which Henry Jones asked the court to unseal grand-jury minutes. The opinion says the request concerned minutes connected to a Bronx County indictment, but it refers to Christopher Rice in the request and Sherrod Stuart in the order.
The court relied on cited legal precedent and the constitutional issues involved in cases brought under a federal civil-rights law. The opinion does not explain the underlying claims or give further reasons for the request.
Judge Katharine H. Parker ordered the Bronx Supreme Court clerk and/or the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office to unseal the grand-jury minutes and make them available for Henry Jones’s counsel to copy and review.
The detailed version
- Jones v. City Of New York · No. 1:18-cv-04064
- George Daniels
- Feb. 13, 2020
Background
Henry Jones, the plaintiff in a case against the City of New York and three police officers, applied for an order to unseal grand-jury minutes. The opinion states that the application concerned Christopher Rice’s minutes, identified by Indictment 188-2016 and Docket 2016BX001519. The order itself, however, refers to the grand-jury minutes for Sherrod Stuart. The opinion does not explain this difference.
Legal basis
The court cites Douglas Oil Co. of California v. Petrol Stops Northwest and In re District Attorney of Suffolk County. It also refers to the important constitutional issues in cases brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a federal law that allows certain civil-rights claims against state or local actors. The opinion does not decide the underlying § 1983 claims.
Ruling
Judge Katharine H. Parker ordered that the grand-jury minutes for Sherrod Stuart be unsealed by the Bronx Supreme Court clerk and/or the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office and made available for copying and review by counsel for Henry Jones.
Effect of the order
The order concerns access to grand-jury materials for Jones’s counsel. It does not state any ruling on liability, damages, criminal charges, or the merits of the civil-rights case.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.