A Vermont judge ruled yesterday that records that might explain why authorities arrested 16-year-old James Parker and 17-year-old Robert Tulloch should remain sealed, citing the necessity to keep the integrity of the investigation.
"Piecemeal dissemination of information does not promote an understanding of the investigation and charges in this case; rather the opposite occurs, and has occurred, in this case," Vermont District Court Judge Patricia Zimmerman ruled.
The Associated Press and other media organizations requested the records, which include affidavits in support of search warrants for the suspects' homes, be opened.
AP lawyer Philip White said he would appeal immediately to the Vermont Supreme Court.
The warrants included a request for physical evidence from the teenage suspects, according to Zimmerman's decision. Prosecutors say releasing documents could jeopardize their continuing investigation, and Zimmerman agreed that the investigation is still ongoing.
Authorities obtained 10 different search warrants in Vermont as they sought evidence against the two teen-agers.
Authorities have said nothing about a possible motive and almost nothing about the evidence used to support arrest warrants for the teenagers.
However, Orange County Sheriff Dennis McClure said last week that authorities were looking at Parker and Tulloch because one of them had bought a military-style knife on the Internet. The sheriff also said fingerprint evidence linked one suspect to the scene.
Sources have told other news organizations a knife sheath or sheaths at the scene bore one of Parker's fingerprints and that a bootprint linked Tulloch to the home.
The first four Vermont warrants were based on information provided by New Hampshire investigators. After completing those searches, Vermont officials returned to court the next day for four more warrants to seize items they had seen but had not been authorized to take, Zimmerman's ruling said.
A ninth warrant was issued the same day based on information New Hampshire officials obtained "from a New Hampshire citizen concerning the location of potential evidence," she said.
The final warrant, seeking evidence from the teenagers themselves, was issued Saturday based on the results of unspecified forensic tests.
All the affidavits requesting the warrants, as well as inventories of items seized, were closed by Zimmerman and another
Vermont judge at the request of prosecutors.
Last week, a Lebanon District Court judge ruled that some of the information contained in New Hampshire search warrants for the Zantop home and affidavits supporting the arrests of the two suspects should be released.
In an initial hearing Wednesday, Judge Albert J. Cirone, Jr., unsealed parts of the New Hampshire records, and then Friday, Cirone said he would unseal other portions tomorrow, barring an appeal from the state.
Tulloch will face a probable cause hearing in Grafton County Superior Court tomorrow.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
