By Sam Stanton, Sacramento Bee

The Bee and five other media companies have filed court papers asking a judge to unseal grand jury transcripts and other documents in the Jaycee Lee Dugard kidnapping case, saying “there is no justification for sealing any records” in the case against Phillip and Nancy Garrido.

Karl Olson, a San Francisco attorney who successfully forced state corrections officials to release Phillip Garrido’s parole records in a Bee lawsuit earlier this year, has asked the trial judge in the Garrido case to unseal the grand jury transcripts and motions that have been filed under seal over the past year, and also to allow argument in court over the judge’s order to seal certain hearings in the case.

Olson argued in a motion that “no overriding interest overcomes the right of public access to records,” and that claiming a defendant’s right to a fair trial may be affected is not enough to seal records.

“Nor is it enough for the defendants to argue that this case has received a lot of publicity, for if that were enough to seal records, all records would be sealed in every case that the public cared about,” Olson wrote.

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