Two U.S. newspapers yesterday urged a federal court to release search warrants and other records linking former U.S. Army biological defense researcher Steven Hatfill to the 2001 anthrax mailings that killed five people, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Aug. 11).
The Justice Department has eliminated Hatfill’s public status as a “person of interest” in the killings and paid him $5.8 million to resolve an invasion of privacy lawsuit.
Lawyers for the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times contended that privacy concerns were outweighed by the public's right to learn on what basis investigators searched Hatfill’s residence and the apartment of his girlfriend.
"The public has a right to know why he was targeted," said Jeanette Melendez Bead, an attorney representing the news organizations.
Government attorneys said the documents should remain sealed to protect Hatfill, who was never charged with a crime. The Justice Department eventually identified Army microbiologist Bruce Ivins as the perpetrator. Ivins killed himself last summer before charges could be filed (Jesse Holland, Associated Press/Google News, Nov. 12).