No Public Right to Access Plea Supplements, 6th Circuit Says

A man facing murder charges in Kentucky lost an appeal to access sealed details about an alleged witness’s guilty plea in an unrelated firearms case, after the Sixth Circuit rejected his First Amendment challenge.

Neither “experience nor logic” supports recognizing a public right of access to plea supplements, the court said.

Plea supplements must be filed in every criminal case resolved by guilty plea in the Western District of Kentucky and are required to “contain either a cooperation agreement or a statement that no such agreement exists.” They are filed under seal pursuant to a general order.

Deandre Swain, who ...