Details Of Alleged Madison Middle Schooler’s Gang Rape By 7 Boys Kept Secret Without Comment « CBS Connecticut

Details Of Alleged Madison Middle Schooler’s Gang Rape By 7 Boys Kept Secret Without Comment « CBS Connecticut:

'via Blog this'But state court rules also say that judges can seal entire files only after finding that less drastic measures — including redacting names, sealing only portions of files or allowing pseudonyms — will not ensure the interests of sealing the file over the public interest of viewing it. The court rules say a judge’s reasons for sealing files and documents can themselves be sealed, if those findings would reveal information entitled to remain confidential.

In the Madison case, the 15-year-old girl and her mother are suing the seven teenagers and their parents in connection with her allegations that she was gang-raped by five classmates in wealthy Madison at a New Year’s Eve party in 2009, when they were all middle school students. A lawyer for one of the teenage boys and his parents says the suit alleges the parents failed to supervise their children.

The complaint accuses five of the seven boys of rape; a sixth boy is accused of taking photos of the alleged assaults and showing them to classmates at the middle school in Madison, which all the youths attended. It is not clear why a seventh boy is being sued.

The federal lawsuit the girl and her mother filed against Madison school officials alleges that school officials, after learning about the rape allegations, failed to discipline the boys, allowed them to remain in school and took no actions to prevent the boys from having contact with the girl while in school. School officials deny the allegations.

The girl “was subjected to repeated contact with and harassment by the assailants, the photographer and their friends,” the lawsuit said in accusing school officials of inaction. The girl has suffered emotional distress and her mother has been forced to pay for her to attend an out-of-town education program, the suit said.

Judicial openness has been a top priority for state Chief Justice Chase T. Rogers, and the principle of openness was featured prominently in a 2006 ruling by the state Appellate Court.

In a lawsuit involving allegations of child sexual assault, the Appellate Court noted that the presumption of openness in court proceedings is a fundamental principle of the judicial system and that policy “is not to be abridged lightly.”

“In fact, the legislature has provided for very few instances in which it has determined that … certain privacy concerns outweigh the public’s interest in open judicial proceedings,” the Appellate Court said.

The “super-sealing” controversy unveiled in 2003 led judicial officials in 2007 to release the identities of parties in more than two dozen lawsuits that court officials previously wouldn’t confirm existed.