Attorney Aaron Martin of the Harrisburg law firm of Mette, Evans & Woodside recently secured a court order requiring the public filing of evidence in a civil rights lawsuit brought by a client. Martin’s client is a private citizen who is suing a police officer employed by the City of Hazleton, Pennsylvania. The suit alleges false arrest in violation of the First and Fourth Amendments. On August 29, 2024, Judge Julia K. Munley of U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania ruled that the police officer defendant must publicly file body camera footage of the incident forming the basis of the suit and that no sealing order would be imposed. Writing about the importance of the public’s access to judicial proceedings generally, the court noted that “public observation diminishes possibilities for injustice, incompetence, perjury, and fraud.” Judge Munley specifically agreed with Martin’s argument that the public’s common law right of access to court records required the public filing of the video at issue. In making such ruling, the judge found that it was unnecessary to address Martin’s alternate argument that the separate First Amendment right of access also required public filing of the evidence. The case is Castro v. Debias, U.S.D.C. No. 3:23-cv-00342-JKM (M.D. Pa.)