Volokh: Court seals file in Highlands Ranch school shooting case

The Volokh Conspiracy: Brandon Combs pointed me to the news about the case being sealed, so I reached out to Denver-based First Amendment lawyer Steve Zansberg, a partner at Ballard Spahr, who knows a great deal about such matters; and he was kind enough to pass along the following:

Throughout my career here, which began in 1996, Colorado has had more than its fair share of tragedies that have attracted national media attention: Columbine, Kobe Bryant, the Aurora Theater Shooting, a fatal shooting in a Planned Parenthood clinic the day after Thanksgiving. And, each time such a terrible tragedy had befallen us, the same day, or in the days following it, my phone “rings of the hook,” with calls from reporters, producers and news directors saying, “we need to get our hands on the records in the court file, A.S.A.P., so we can tell our readers and viewers what happened, and why [suspect] is charged with [#] counts of murder!”

Not this time.

Last Tuesday, May 7, two high school students shot and killed an 18-year old (Kendrick Castillo, who was to graduate last Friday) and wounded eight other students at the STEM Charter School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Both of the shooters were apprehended that day and are being charged, as adults, with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder. The older of the two suspected shooters, Devon Erickson, has appeared in court twice.

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