The Denver Post: A judge has blocked victims of last year’s Planned Parenthood shooting access to criminal discovery in the case against the accused gunman, saying Robert Dear’s right to a fair trial outweighs their interests in a civil lawsuit against the healthcare provider.

Fourth Judicial District Chief Judge Gilbert Martinez wrote in a ruling handed down last month that a protection order issued in the civil case is not sufficient to keep details of Dear’s prosecution from getting out to the public.

“Granting access to discovery to nonparties at the present time would unnecessarily risk compromising the integrity of the criminal proceedings and the defendant’s right to a fair trial,” Martinez wrote in the Nov. 23 ruling.

The prosecution against Dear is in limbo as he remains indefinitely incompetent to stand trial. Lawyers in the civil suit have said that without information from the criminal case and investigation into Dear — including police reports, photos and video — it is unlikely their case can proceed.

Martinez, in his ruling, said he will allow the lawyers in the civil case access to police history reports from the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs. El Paso County prosecutors and Dear’s defense team both opposed the release of information to lawyers in the civil case.

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