NEW: RI Supreme Court Rules Against Releasing 38 Studio Grand Jury Documents

NEW: RI Supreme Court Rules Against Releasing 38 Studio Grand Jury Documents

The court ruled Wednesday, “Governor Gina M. Raimondo appealed from a judgment of the Superior Court denying her petition to disclose all materials from the grand jury that investigated the state’s 38 Studios bond deal because (1) it did not have the authority to disclose grand jury materials outside of the enumerated disclosures it is permitted to make under Rule 6(e) of the Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure; (2) the Governor did not demonstrate a particularized need for the information requested; and (3) policy factors did not favor disclosure.  The Governor argued that the Superior Court has inherent authority to release such information outside of Rule 6(e), as some federal courts have held when applying the rule’s federal counterpart.”

Further the court wrote, “The Supreme Court, after determining that, despite the Governor’s inability to satisfy the traditional standing requirement, it would consider the case because of the considerable public interest, disagreed with the Governor’s arguments and held that: There is no inherent authority in the Superior Court to disclose grand jury materials beyond that which is permitted by the Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure.  The Court also determined that, even had the Court held otherwise, it would have been well within the discretion of the Superior Court to deny the Governor’s petition because the relevant cases on which the Governor relied in support of disclosure involved circumstances so unlike those presented in this case.”

In conclusion, the court wrote, "For many people in this state, particularly those who are currently holding public office, the 38 Studios situation and the company’s bankruptcy, occurring as it did just as the entire country was clawing its way out of the Great Recession, still stings. We certainly understand those feelings. However, after careful consideration of the issues ably briefed and argued by the parties, the judgment of the Superior Court is affirmed. The papers, in this case, shall be returned to the Superior Court.

“Therefore, the Court affirmed the judgment of the Superior Court,” found the Court.

The decision by the Supreme Court functionally ends a ten-year saga and more than seven years of near-constant litigation about the failed video gaming company founded by former Red Sox great Curt Schilling.

In 2015, GoLocal successfully forced the release of thousands of pages of Rhode Island State Police interviews after suing Raimondo and the State Police.

The episode cost the state tens of millions of dollars after the company fell into receivership less than three years after it received $75 million in state funding via a guaranteed loan program.

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Supreme Court Denies Release of 38 Studios Grand Jury Documents - February 19, 2020