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Judge denies bid to close courtroom

This story originally appeared August 28, 2003

The Bakersfield Californian | Thursday, Feb 15 2007 4:06 PM

Last Updated: Thursday, Feb 15 2007 4:06 PM

A Superior Court judge on Wednesday denied a request by the Bakersfield City School District to seal legal filings and close the courtroom to the public during hearings on a public records lawsuit filed by The Californian.

Judge Kenneth Twisselman II ruled that the school district had not shown that closing the hearing was required to protect the privacy interests of Vincent Brothers, a vice principal at Fremont Elementary School, and others. The paper is seeking records of complaints and discipline against Brothers as part of its coverage of the murders of five of his family members. Brothers is the only named suspect in the case.

Those asking to close court documents or hearings have the burden of proving that an overriding interest is served and no lesser remedy could be imposed that retained the public's rights of access.

Twisselman will hear arguments on the law covering the records in question on Sept. 5. That same day, he will hear another case brought by the newspaper in the Brothers case, a motion to unseal search warrants served by police in the case.

Brothers' wife, Joanie Harper, 39, children Marques, 4, Lyndsey, 2, and Marshall, 6 weeks, and his mother-in-law, Earnestine Harper, 70, were found dead in their central Bakersfield home July 8.

Brothers was briefly arrested the following day, but was released without charges. He is the only suspect police have identified by name in the case, called the worst homicide in the city's history.

The school district's lawyer said after the suit was filed that there were no records of discipline. But he has maintained that Brothers' privacy rights would be infringed if the district released any other records.