| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2010 5:38 pm |
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Local News 
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State wants photos of boy sealed The pictures document Shayne Abegg’s condition after police rescued him. EVERETT — The state is expected today to ask a judge to prohibit public access to photographs of a boy who nearly starved to death at the hands of his father and the man’s girlfriend.About two dozen semi-nude photographs of Shayne Abegg are part of the court record in a civil lawsuit brought against the state Department of Health and Social Services, a contract social worker and his employer. Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives took photographs of Shayne after he was rescued from his father’s Lynnwood apartment March 7, 2007. The boy weighed about 25 pounds. Danny Abegg and Marilea Mitchell were sentenced to eight years in prison after being accused of intentionally withholding food from Shayne as a form of punishment. Pamela Anderson, an assistant state attorney general, filed a motion earlier this month asking a judge to seal the photographs, hiding them from public view. Anderson represented DSHS in the civil lawsuit. A hearing on the motion was scheduled this morning. “Given the fact that the case is resolved, Shayne’s interest overrides the public interest in seeing those pictures,” Anderson said Tuesday. The Herald first asked Anderson in August about the photographs after learning that she and other attorneys were allowed to seal parts of a report in the court record that were critical of state workers. Shayne’s court-appointed guardian ad-litem had filed a report in May, detailing her decision to accept a $6 million settlement on his behalf. The Herald obtained a copy of the guardian’s report during the month it was part of the public file. Lawyers in June asked for portions of the report to be redacted. The lawyers were allowed to black out medical and financial information about Shayne. They argued that sensitive information should be redacted to protect Shayne’s privacy. They also were allowed to black out portions of the public file that criticized the state’s handling of Shayne’s case. Scrubbed from the public file were details about how Shayne had been harmed by being moved to four different foster homes since his rescue and other potential long-term effects of his abuse. The lawyers, however, didn’t raise concerns about the two dozen photographs of Shayne that were part of the public lawsuit file. The pictures were entered into the case record during a court hearing, Anderson said Tuesday. She said it was futile to seal the photographs then because media were at the hearing that day and some filmed them for their broadcasts. Removing the photos from the public file would be consistent with the order sealing parts of the guardian’s report, Anderson wrote in her motion to now seal the images. “The photographs comprise 24 pages in an entire record of 142 documents in a file. Both the allegations in this action and the settlement amount remain part of the public file. There is no legitimate, counterweighing interest for the public to have open access to the photographs,” Anderson wrote. Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463, hefley@heraldnet.com. |
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- Lynnwood sets height limit on grass: 8 inches (5)
- Everett police officers cleared in 2008 shooting death (5)
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- Business Licences Feb. 2010
- Technology tips for launching your own business
- Business Events Feb. 2010
- Tech Talk: No excuse today for going without a Web site
- State already raising fees and rates that restrict business growth
- Some legislators again targeting people’s initiative petition rights
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