Government moves to open public corruption hearing transcripts

The U.S. attorney’s office, in a motion filed late Thursday, has asked Federal District Judge Frank Montalvo to unseal redacted versions of the transcripts in the closed hearings of eight defendants who have pleaded guilty to various conspiracy, bribery and wire fraud charges in the government’s ongoing public corruption investigation.

The motion was filed in response to the petition filed by the El Paso Media Group, which publishes Newspaper Tree, to intervene in the corruption cases and ask that the court conduct future hearings in open court, post notices of those hearings on its public docket and unseal documents.

“The government wishes to enlarge the court’s previous disclosure by moving, herein, to unseal redacted versions of the transcripts to the sealed hearings since the purpose for the closed proceedings in the eight hearings has been ameliorated,” the government’s latest motion reads. “Should the court concur that in the request to unseal and agree that the redactions with the government comply with the applicable law, the government requests that these redacted transcripts be unsealed and made public.”

Click here for the story on the government motion.

The hearings referred to in the motion are those in which the first eight defendants in the corruption cases pleaded guilty.

The transcripts, even in redacted form, should shed new light on the FBI’s investigation and on the acts the defendants admitted they were involved in, beginning with John Travis Ketner, the former chief of staff to the current El Paso County judge, Anthony Cobos.

FBI agents searched Cobos’ office, along with the offices of county Commissioners Miguel Teran and Luis Sarinana, in May 2006, five months after Cobos took office. One month later, Ketner pleaded guilty to four charges implicating the three county officials and 16 other individuals and companies that were referred to as alleged co-conspirators.

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To reach David Crowder, write to dcrowder@epmediagroup.com or call (915) 351-0605