Valley Broadcasting Company v. United States District Court For The District Of Nevada

798 F.2d 1289 55 USLW 2191 , 13 Media L. Rep. 1347 VALLEY BROADCASTING COMPANY, Petitioner, v. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR the DISTRICT OF NEVADA, Respondent, United States of America, Anthony Spilotro, et al., Real Parties in Interest. No. 86-7103. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Submitted March 21, 1986. Decided Sept. 2, 1986. Janet Frasier Phillips, Las Vegas, Nev., for petitioner. L.J. O'Neale, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., for respondent. Mandamus from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. Before GOODWIN, NORRIS and HALL, Circuit Judges. CYNTHIA HOLCOMB HALL, Circuit Judge: 1 This case requires us to decide whether the public's common law right to copy and inspect public records and documents includes the right to copy audio and videotape exhibits as they are received in evidence during a criminal trial. 2 Valley Broadcasting Company (Valley Broadcasting) brought this petition for writ of mandamus after the district court denied its request to copy certain audio and video tapes as they were admitted into evidence in United States v. Spilotro, et. al., CR-LV-83-11-LDG (Spilotro), a prominent RICO conspiracy case now underway in…