By: The public should be allowed to see a search warrant issued in the investigation of a teenager found shot to death with a state senator's gun, lawyers for two newspapers argued yesterday.
Lawyers for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette argued in Westmoreland County Court that keeping the warrant for an Aug. 9 search of the home of Sen. Bob Regola (R., Westmoreland) sealed is not justified, barring exceptional circumstances. But District Attorney John Peck said the credibility of any witness interviewed in the future would be suspect if the warrant were made public.
Nobody has been charged in the death of the 14-year-old boy, whose body was found July 22 in woods behind Regola's home with Regola's 9mm handgun nearby. The boy had been caring for the Regolas' pets while the senator and his wife were out of town. Investigators were trying to determine whether he shot himself on purpose or by accident, or whether someone else fired the single shot that killed him.
Judge Rita Hathaway gave the newspapers' lawyers 10 days to file legal arguments about why the warrant should be unsealed. Peck will then have 10 days to file his response. - AP
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