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November 7, 2006

Journal to appeal decision on jury questionnaires

The Providence Journal is appealing a Superior Court judge's decision to block the public from seeing questionnaires that prospective jurors filled out in The Station nightclub fire case, Journal lawyer Kristin E. Rodgers said today.

The questionnaires were part of the process in selecting a jury to hear involuntary manslaughter charges against nightclub co-owner Michael A. Derderian. The case halted before a jury was picked when Derderian and his brother, Jeffrey A. Derderian, the nightclub's other owner, agreed to plead no contest to the charges against them.

On Oct. 12, Judge Francis J. Darigan Jr. granted The Journal's request to make blank questionnaires public, but denied the newspaper's request for the answers given by 421 prospective jurors. Darigan said that making the answers public would make it difficult to seat juries in future cases.

The Journal filed its notice of appeal in Kent County Superior Court. The appeal will be docketed by the Rhode Island Supreme Court, which will announce a schedule for hearing the matter.

-- Journal staff writer Paul Parker

Posted by Kate Bramson  at 3:13 PM | Permalink

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