The Star fights to prevent sealing of court document in Olathe East school shooting case
READ MORE
Olathe East High School shooting
A shooting at a Johnson County high school injured a school resource officer and an administrator, according to police. The suspect, a student, is in custody.
Expand All
The Kansas City Star on Friday filed a motion to intervene in the criminal case against 18-year-old Jaylon Elmore, the suspect in the Olathe East High School shooting, objecting to the sealing of a court record, according to the filing.
Johnson County’s district attorney charged Elmore with attempted capital murder in the Friday, March 4, shooting of school resource officer Erik Clark in the high school’s administrative offices.
A Star reporter on Monday submitted a request seeking a copy of the affidavit used to support the charge against Elmore.
The next day, Elmore’s court appointed attorney, Paul Morrison, filed a response asking the court to deny The Star’s request or to redact certain parts of the affidavit before releasing it.
In its motion, The Star is asking to be allowed to intervene for the limited purpose of responding to the defense attorney’s objections.
“The Star seeks the affidavit in order to accurately inform its readers about the criminal proceedings in this case that is of great community concern,” The Star’s attorney Bernard Rhodes wrote in the motion.
“The exchange of fire at a public school between a student and a school resource officer and the use of a so-called ‘ghost gun,’ as described by the District Attorney, are all matters of undeniable public importance.”
Prior to the shooting, a student had concerns about Elmore and told administration. Elmore was sent to the school office, Superintendent Brent Yeager told The Star Wednesday. Yeager would not confirm whether the Olathe East student reported that Elmore had a gun. But other staff members and students have told The Star that was the case.
Elmore is accused of exchanging gunfire with Clark shortly after 10:30 a.m. March 4. Both Elmore and Clark, as well as assistant principal Kaleb Stoppel, were injured in the school shooting. Clark and Stoppel were released from the hospital later that day.
After Elmore was arraigned Monday, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe revealed that the gun Elmore is accused of firing had been identified by investigators as a so-called “ghost gun,” an illegal type of firearm built using either a kit or from individual parts without a serial number. It is outside the systems authorities use to track firearms.
In its filing, The Star says it has a right to challenge a pretrial request to seal a record or close a proceeding. In 2014, Kansas became the last state in the nation to open criminal affidavits, which describe why someone has been charged with a crime. The Star maintains that Kansas Supreme Court rulings favor disclosure of the affidavit.
Under Kansas law, defendants and their attorneys have up to five days to make a motion to seal the documents. Kansas law allows judges to seal the documents if they determine disclosure would interfere with an investigation or prosecution.
Elmore’s attorney has objected to its release because “no evidence has been presented” and release of the document would serve no legitimate purpose, its release would likely poison the jury pool and its release would fuel additional news reports that could be damaging to students at the school and the wider community.
In the Star’s motion, it contends that court proceedings should be open to enhance public trust and confidence in the judicial process and that reporting that could be damaging is pure speculation.
Read The Star’s filing in its entirety:
This story was originally published March 11, 2022 at 2:24 PM.
