Allgier letter may be unsealed

A letter from a Salt Lake County Jail inmate to a judge regarding the capital murder case of Curtis Michael Allgier is a public record and can be unsealed and released, a judge has ruled.

The "Cobb letter" from an inmate whose last name is Cobb, had been the subject of an extended court battle between news organizations and Allgier's defense team and prosecutors.

Allgier, 29, is charged with killing corrections officer Stephen Anderson with his own gun during an out-of-prison medical appointment in 2007. The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office has said it will seek the death penalty if Allgier is convicted.

Although 3rd District Judge Sheila McCleve decided the letter was public, she included in her ruling a directive that said the "details" of her decision and the contents of the letter should remain sealed for 20 days if Allgier does not appeal her decision to the Utah Supreme Court. Or, if he does appeal, then the two documents should stay sealed until the high court makes its ruling, McCleve wrote.

The decision by McCleve was mistakenly put on the Utah State Court's Web site briefly on Friday and news reports about it were published online or aired by several news organizations. News organizations, including the Deseret News, agreed to pull the original reports at the court's request.

These events all stem from a letter that 3rd District Judge Robin Reese received on June 17, 2008 from a jail inmate. Since the letter contained information about Allgier's alleged crime, Reese forwarded it to 3rd District Judge Deno Himonas, who was handling some of the early hearings in Allgier's case. That judge temporarily sealed the letter until disputes about whether it should be made public were resolved.

Himonas provided copies to prosecutors and also to Allgier's defense team, which argued that this letter could jeopardize Allgier's right to a fair trial.

Attorneys for the Deseret News and other media outlets argued that the letter was a court document and should be made public. Allgier's lawyers argued it was not a public document and said releasing it would jeopardize his right to a fair trial.

McCleve agreed with the news organizations.

Anderson, 60, was escorting Allgier from prison to a medical clinic on June 25, 2007. After completion of an MRI, prosecutors say the inmate wrested a gun from Anderson during a struggle. Anderson was shot in the head and chest, court documents state. Allgier then fled the clinic, carjacked a vehicle, led police on a high-speed chase and was eventually captured at a fast-food restaurant, police say.

E-MAIL: lindat@desnews.com