by School of Government faculty member Michael Crowell In the last couple of years North Carolina has seen several high profile cases in which the sealing of a search warrant became an issue. One was the investigation of the murder of Nancy Cooper in Cary, and it led to last week's North Carolina Court of Appeals' decision, In Re: Search Warrants Issued In Connection With The Investigation Into The Death Of Nancy Cooper, No. COA08-1280 (Oct. 6, 2009), the first state appellate decision to offer guidance on sealing warrants. Nancy Cooper disappeared in mid-July 2008, then her body was found several days later, strangled to death. As the investigation focused quickly on her husband, Brad, several search warrants were issued for the home, his car, and his office and computers. The police and prosecutor asked to seal the search warrants plus the applications and inventories, to protect an ongoing investigation. The motions were granted ex parte, for thirty days each, and later extended over the objection of Capitol Broadcasting and the News and Observer. Within a couple of months all were unsealed, and Bradley Cooper was charged with murdering his wife. The Court of Appeals upheld the sealing. The Court of Appeals started with the statute, G.S. 132-1.4(k), which says that search warrants which have been returned are public records and "may be withheld only when sealed by court order. . . ." That's it. There is nothing to tell a trial judge when a warrant may be sealed and when [...]
Faculty Coordinators
