Lesher Communications, Inc. v. Superior Court

Lesher Communications, Inc., publisher of the Contra Costa Times, challenges an order of respondent superior court denying it access to completed juror questionnaires. We agree that Lesher is entitled to inspect the juror questionnaires, which are a part of the voir dire process, but only after appropriate precautions have been taken to protect legitimate privacy concerns of potential jurors.

The case in which the questionnaires are sought is the triple murder trial of John Sapp (defendant) in which the prosecution is seeking the death penalty. Prior to oral examination of prospective jurors, Lesher requested that the questionnaires used in jury selection be made available for public inspection. The defendant opposed the request on the ground that release of completed questionnaires would violate the jurors’ legitimate expectations of privacy. He called attention to the just released case of Copley Press, Inc. v. Superior Court (1990) 223 Cal.App.3d 994 [ 272 Cal.Rptr. 22 ], which set forth a protocol for public access to such questionnaires, but refused to apply it in that case because questionnaires had been filled in under a promise of confidentiality and the trial…