BY AMY ROBINSON
Part of the court file in a Clare County murder case was sealed by the judge yesterday.
A 32-year old Remus woman is accused of killing a 68-year old Harrison man in rural Clare county in January.
The Morning Sun newspaper said it's been illegally blocked from accessing court records on the case.
Today a district judge ruled that portions of the probable cause affidavit can remain redacted.
Clare county prosecutor Michelle Ambrozaitis filed a motion for the redaction. She said the move does not harm the public.
"I think they fared well. They're getting information pursuant to the probable cause affidavit. We aren't keeping everything from them. but we're also trying to protect the defendant's right to have a fair trial, we're trying to protect the proceedings. And we're trying to make sure that this case is tried, pursuant to the rules of evidence and those rules that define what we do in the courtroom, as opposed to being tried in the public forum." Ambrozaitis said.
Tom Weiss is the attorney for the Morning Sun. He said he was disappointed in the ruling.
"I was hopeful that the judge would take the affidavit back to his chambers, and without anyone else there, review it to see if the information that was being blacked out, was appropriate to be blacked out. The judge did not take me up on that idea. He decided that the information that was being eliminated by the prosecutor's own hand, was justified to be eliminated and of course, we took exception to that." Weiss said.
The editor of the Morning Sun said late yesterday that the paper is exploring options for future action in the case.