By Emilie Lounsberry and Frederick Cusick

The Philadelphia Inquirer
 

Read the Inquirer's editorial on this issue.

A U.S. District Court judge Oct. 14 refused to unseal any search warrants issued in the federal investigation that has enveloped Mayor Street.

The decision by Chief U.S. District Judge James T. Giles came as prosecutors sought to preserve the secrecy of the investigation, saying they must "protect the ability" of law enforcement authorities to complete the inquiry.

Philadelphia Newspapers Inc., which publishes The Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, had asked Giles to unseal search warrants issued in the investigation, which became public last week when city police officers found a sophisticated listening device in the ceiling of Street's City Hall office.

After hearing legal arguments last night, Giles ruled that the news media had no right to information pertaining to a grand jury investigation.

"The public's interest is protected by the secrecy of the grand jury material," Giles said.

He also suggested that the newspapers were interested in making money rather than ensuring the public's right to know and that their desire to get the information was a "temporary, titillating interest" rather than the deeper, more significant interest on investigative secrecy, personal privacy, and the right to a fair trial embodied in grand jury secrecy rules.

Katherine Hatton, vice president and general counsel for PNI, said no decision had been made on whether to appeal.

Street has been identified as a subject of what sources have described as a wide-ranging investigation focusing on city contracts, according to people familiar with the investigation, but has not been described as a specific "target," which refers to someone who is likely to be indicted.

Legal experts say that federal prosecutors in Philadelphia generally do not designate someone as a target until shortly before an indictment.

In court papers filed yesterday, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert A. Zauzmer and Frank A. Labor 3d stated that the investigation "could be thwarted if the government's evidence, theories, methods and plans which are described in or deducible from the search warrants" were disclosed.

"In this particular case, the pertinent facts confirm and warrant application of the rule against pre-indictment disclosure of criminal investigations," the prosecutors stated.

Attorneys for the newspaper argued that the case involved a "matter of grave public concern" and that disclosure of the search warrants was important with the mayoral election just three weeks away.

"Residents of the City of Philadelphia have only fragmentary information, yet they must make a decision about the leadership of this City on Nov. 4. It is hard to imagine a situation where the public's need for information could be greater," lawyers Amy B. Ginensky, Michael E. Baughman and Laurie E. Waddy wrote on behalf of the newspapers.