News media ask appeals panel to release Torricelli memo

By The Associated Press,
freedomforum.org staff

09.11.02

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PHILADELPHIA — It would be unfair to U.S. Sen. Robert G. Torricelli to make public a report that might spell out his alleged misdeeds, his lawyer told a three-judge federal appeals panel yesterday.

Earlier this year, the government closed its investigation into the financing of Torricelli's 1996 election without bringing charges against him, but a Senate ethics committee reprimanded the New Jersey Democrat. The issue remains at the forefront of Torricelli's current re-election campaign against Republican Douglas Forrester.

Lawyers for Torricelli, several news media outlets and the federal government argued yesterday before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals about whether a government memorandum should be made public.

The memorandum is said to lay out why federal prosecutors sought a light prison sentence for David Chang, a key figure in the government's since-dropped investigation of Torricelli.

Chang is serving an 18-month sentence after pleading guilty to making illegal contributions to the senator's 1996 campaign.

The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Record of Hackensack, N.J., and WNBC-TV of New York are seeking disclosure of the document.

Bruce S. Rosen, the lawyer for the media outlets, said being able to attend Chang's sentencing hearing and see other sentencing materials did not provide enough access for the public.

"All you're going to hear is the judge's conclusion," Rosen said. "You're not going to know anything about what that conclusion is based on."

A Justice Department lawyer argued that judges have to have the discretion to decide which parts of sentencing-related documents should be released.

Michael A. Rokter said judges should weigh how much harm releasing a report would do uncharged parties named in it. Normally, courts afford public officials less privacy. But in this case, the court should do the opposite because Torricelli has more to lose than an average citizen, Rokter said.

Torricelli's lawyer, Theodore V. Wells Jr., agreed.

"You create a situation where an uncharged person has no forum in which to defend himself, but he still has to respond to the prosecutor's statements," Wells said.

Wells also argued that since the report was used in grand jury proceedings, it must be kept secret. Rosen, representing the media, said that should not be a factor because the document was not crafted at the grand jury's request.

In July, a federal judge denied a news media request to release the entire memo, The Record reported. However, U.S. District Judge Alfred M. Wolin said an edited version of the report could be released. The material Wolin ordered removed included allegations against Torricelli that hadn't been made public previously and information that might reveal the government's decision-making process in the investigation.

Wolin delayed releasing the edited report while the 3rd Circuit considers the case, the newspaper said.

The three-judge panel did not indicate when it might make a decision in the case. Circuit court decisions often take months.

Update

Torricelli files motion to block immediate release of memo
Move follows news media request that 3rd Circuit — which ruled that letter should be disclosed — bypass court rules that could keep document sealed for at least 45 days.  09.25.02