McKenzie v. United States of America

Filing 10

ORDER unsealing pleadings in Criminal Case 6:15cr-001. Signed by Magistrate Judge G. R. Smith on 1/6/17. (jrb)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
STATESBORO DIVISION
OLAUDAH McKENZIE,

)

)

Movant,

)

)

CV616-086
CR615-OO1

)

)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

)

)

Respondent.
-'

(1

pt
1
IPI 1!

Movant Olaudah McKenzie moves to unseal 23 docket entries for use
in his 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion. Doc. 292. He suggests that electronic
accessibility to sealed documents in this case would assist him in
supporting his legal claims.

Id.

He seeks, inter alia, unsealing of

warrants and orders granting warrants.

Id.

The clerk automatically

sealed these documents, but there does not appear to be any basis for
keeping them under seal and the Government has not opposed his motion.
A review of the requested docket entries shows that none will be of
any help to him. Transparency, however, is the norm.' Accordingly

1

As the Eleventh Circuit explains:
The common-law right of access "establish[es] a general presumption that
criminal and civil actions should be conducted publicly" and "includes the
right to inspect and copy public records and documents." Chi. Tribune Co. v.

Olaudah McKenzie's motion to unseal documents is GRANTED. Doe. 292.

SO ORDERED, this 6th day of January, 2017.

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., 263 F.3d 1304, 1311 (11th Cir. 2001) (per curiam).
It is "an essential component of our system of justice" and "is instrumental in
securing the integrity of the process." Id.
F.T.C. v. AbbVie Products LLC, 713 F.3d 54, 62 (11th Cir. 2013); see also United
States v. Peterson, 627 F.Supp.2d 1359, 1373-74 (M.D. Ga. 2008) (granting
defendant's motion to unseal search warrant and affidavit because they are "judicial
records," and "judicial documents should not be sealed indefinitely; they should only
remained sealed when some interest would be adversely affected if the documents
were made public").
2