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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 682 Filed 06/24/22 Page3of4
The Defendant also seeks partial or full redactions of some of the statements, citing
references to issues that were not disclosed by the Government or revealed during the victims’
trial testimony (with respect to Annie Farmer and Kate); concerns about credibility (with respect
to Giuffre); and due process concerns (with respect to the remaining individuals) Def.’s Ltr. 5—7.
This request for redactions is denied.
The Court has little difficulty concluding that the statements at issue are judicial
documents to which the common law and First Amendment presumptions of public access
attach. See, e.g., United States v. Alcantara, 396 F.3d 189, 199 (2d Cir. 2005) (“[A] qualified
First Amendment right of public access attaches to sentencing proceedings.”); United States v.
Sours Edwards, No. 1:19-CR-64 (GHW), 2022 WL 1158561, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 18, 2022)
(“[These documents] are judicial documents. They were presented to the Court in connection
with Dr. Sours Edwards’ sentencing.”); United States v. Sattar, 471 F. Supp. 2d 380, 385
(S.D.N.Y. 2006) (“These documents were submitted to the Court to provide information with
respect to the crucial judicial function of sentencing [and accordingly are judicial documents].”).
The Court need not determine the weight of the presumption in favor of public access in
this context, “because, whatever weight the presumption has here, there are . . . no countervailing
interests that would justify sealing.” United States v. Avenatti, 550 F. Supp. 3d 36, 48 n.3
(S.D.N.Y. 2021). The Defendant’s proffered justifications for sealing elide the reality that the
decision-maker at this stage of proceedings is not a jury but the Court, which is fully capable of
considering the submissions for what they are worth and without prejudice. Moreover, the
proposed redactions would not safeguard the interests the Defendant points to. The
decisionmaker—the Court—will have access to unredacted copies of the documents, so the only
accomplishment of the proposed redactions will be to obscure information from public view. As
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Document Details
| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00010746.jpg |
| File Size | 736.6 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 94.2% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 2,148 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 18:01:46.662226 |