Mass. high court weighs media bid for impounded juvenile-court audio in child-death case

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court heard argument over whether a news organization may obtain an impounded audio recording of a February 2019 juvenile-court hearing in which custody was granted to a father later convicted of killing the child.

The case pits LC Media’s claim of a First Amendment–rooted public right of access against statutory confidentiality for juvenile-court proceedings under chapter 119 and related court rules. In oral argument, counsel for LC Media and for the Department of Children and Families and for the child’s mother disagreed over whether the lower court judge abused her discretion in denying access and whether remand or an order directing disclosure would be appropriate.

“We must not allow public institutions to hide behind the privacy rights of individuals in order to evade public scrutiny and critique,” attorney Jennifer LaManna told the court on behalf of appellant LC Media, arguing that the lower court “abused her discretion” by failing to analyze the specific privacy interests and by not balancing those interests against the public’s right to know. LaManna emphasized that her client had…