Minnesota outlet ordered to delete court memo in murder case

NBC affiliate KARE-TV was barred from publishing an improperly filed memo in a high-profile murder case in St. Paul, Minnesota, on July 19, 2024. Five days later, the broadcast station filed a petition to overturn the gag order with the state Court of Appeals, the outlet reported.

Joseph Sandoval was charged with the murders of two men at a St. Paul sober home in 2022, and he pleaded guilty in May 2024. Ahead of Sandoval’s sentencing, his attorney filed a sentencing memorandum with the court detailing the failures of the state and the sober home to provide him the medical care he needed given his history of mental illness and drug-induced psychosis, KARE-TV reported.

KARE-TV has followed the prosecution as part of a series focusing on the systemic failings in cases involving individuals found incompetent to stand trial who are released without court-ordered mental health treatment and go on to commit new, sometimes more serious, crimes.

The station obtained a publicly available copy of the memo through the court’s website and attempted to film the July 19 sentencing, but Ramsey County District Judge Joy Bartscher refused to allow the camera in her courtroom.

“I believe that the media coverage would make this case more of a circus than a solemn proceeding in which the Court is making a decision about many people’s lives,” Bartscher said during the hearing. “The purpose of media coverage is supposed to be, supposedly what I have been instructed, is to have transparency about what is going on in a courtroom. I don’t think that that’s what the purpose is of media coverage quite frankly.”

Bartscher then granted a protective order for the memo — first orally and then in writing — requiring anyone who had obtained a copy to refrain from publishing and to destroy their copies of the document.

“It’s my understanding that at least one media outlet was able to access that information that should have been confidential,” Bartscher said. “That memorandum shall not be used for any purpose other than consideration by the Court and parties for sentencing.”

Attorneys representing KARE-TV filed a petition with the Minnesota Court of Appeals on July 24, arguing that the gag order violates the First Amendment and amounts to an unconstitutional prior restraint. “The Court’s July 19 Orders had immediate and far-reaching consequences on KARE 11’s reporting,” the appeal stated.

It added that, without a reversal from the court, the outlet would be “forced to choose between reporting on information it lawfully obtained from the Court’s public docket, and risk being held in contempt, or giving up its constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of the press and depriving the public of information on matters of significant public interest and concern.”

The appeal is still pending and no hearing dates have been scheduled, according to records reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Attorneys for KARE-TV did not immediately respond to requests for comment.