Former Stockton Mayor Loses Bid To Seal Grand Jury Transcripts
STOCKTON (CBS13) — Former Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva lost a bid to seal thousands of pages of grand jury transcripts in court on Tuesday.
A judge denied Silva's motion to keep about 6,000 pages of grand jury transcripts private. That means days after his attorneys receive them, the documents would be made available to the public.
Lawyers representing the former mail argued sealing them would allow Silva have a fair trial, fearing they could be one-sided and hurt the case. They also say video of a press conference that was posted to social media after Silva's arraignment could have an impact on jury selection.
"We think it damages the right to have a fair trial, because potential jurors are going to be hearing evidence that is one-sided, and we know that it's one-sided because we have evidence that shows what they said in the press conference was not accurate," said his attorney Allen Sawyer.
Silva is charged with six felony counts of money laundering and embezzlement from the Stockton Kids Club, formerly the Stockton Boys and Girls Club, where he served as the organization's CEO.
