NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A New Orleans newspaper has asked a federal judge to unseal court documents related to the prosecution of police officers after Hurricane Katrina while the Justice Department investigates allegations of prosecutorial misconduct in the case.
The Times-Picayune asked Tuesday to intervene in the case against five current or former police officers who were convicted of civil rights violations stemming from deadly shootings of unarmed residents on a New Orleans bridge less than a week after the 2005 storm.
The newspaper's attorneys argue the public has a right to access sealed court filings and transcripts of hearings that U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt held behind closed doors after he ordered prosecutors to investigate the source of leaked information about the probe of the shootings.