Court of Appeal orders search warrants of S.B. County assessor's office unsealed

10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, July 1, 2008
By PAUL LAROCCO
The Press-Enterprise

San Bernardino County prosecutors must make public search warrants that they filed connection with their criminal investigation of Assessor Bill Postmus' office, a state appellate court ruled late Tuesday.

The Riverside-based Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Two, denied a motion to keep the documents supporting seizure of assessor's office computers and other material under seal.

The decision came a month after a San Bernardino County Superior Court judge ruled that the district attorney's office must immediately make the search warrants public.

"We are encouraged that the court of appeals recognized the DA's attempt to keep these records from public view was entirely baseless," said attorney Al Wickers, who represented The Press-Enterprise in the newspaper's original challenge of the sealing.

Susan Mickey, a district attorney's spokeswoman, said officials had no comment late Tuesday because they hadn't had time to review the appellate court order.

The search warrants, filed on April 7, are to be released this morning.

Sources previously said that investigators and the county grand jury were reviewing whether the assessor's office had been illegally used for political activity.

On Monday, prosecutors charged one of Postmus' aides, Adam Aleman, with six felonies, including presenting false evidence to a county grand jury and destroying public records.

"Given that previous court rulings allowed access to search warrants we felt we would prevail, so I'm pleased the documents will finally be released," Maria De Varenne, editor and vice president for news, said in a statement.

"The Press-Enterprise has a long history of fighting for access to public documents, and we will continue those efforts particularly when it involves alleged misuse by government officials."

On May 29, Superior Court Judge David Cohn heard arguments from both sides and ruled that the district attorney's office did not meet the "especially high burden" necessary to keep the search warrants sealed.

The next day, the district attorney's lead appellate prosecutor Grover Merritt filed an appeal that argued Cohn's decision was "an unlawful order."

"This premature disclosure will irreparably harm ... a secret criminal investigation," Merritt wrote.

After receiving the argument, the appellate court issued a stay on Cohn's decision that continued through Monday, when the grand jury investigation into Postmus' office was completed.

"We're disappointed that it took a month for the court of appeals to lift the stay," Wickers said, "but we are happy that the people of San Bernardino County will be able to learn more about this public corruption investigation."