Officer Roach in April 2001 shot to death Timothy Thomas, an unarmed black man who was running from police in Over-the-Rhine. The shooting prompted days of violence and civil unrest and focused national and international attention on Cincinnati's race and police problems.

        In September, Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Ralph E. “Ted” Winkler acquitted Officer Roach, now a police officer in Evendale. Forty days later, Judge Winkler expunged records of the charge and ordered court documents of the seven-day trial sealed.

        Now, in response to a legal challenge by the Enquirer, an appeals court asks why he sealed the records.

        The appellate court says judges who accede to defendants' requests to seal records must think about more than just an accused's right to privacy. They must consider government's needs and the public's trust.

        How can the public trust in an open and fair justice system when cases like this one are no longer open?

Fantasyland

        It's hard to believe in what we can't see.

        Sealing court documents means no one can access them. They're removed from all official indexes, and officers of the court and of public agencies can't refer to them in public documents.

        It's like believing in fantasyland.

        In fantasyland — or at least in Hamilton County Municipal Court — Officer Stephen Roach was never charged with negligent homicide or with obstructing official business.

        There never was testimony that he ran with his gun drawn, his finger on the trigger, contrary to department training. He never told a colleague that the gun “just went off,” and he didn't change his story three times.

        In his acquittal, Judge Winkler didn't coddle or excuse Officer Roach, and he didn't castigate the victim, Mr. Thomas. Indeed, the court record of the acquittal no longer exists.

        It all just fades from official memory — in fantasyland.

        But the illusion isn't complete, and it shouldn't be.

A right to privacy

        Accounts of the trial are still available, Judge Winkler pointed out during an interview Thursday. Court TV has videotapes of the testimony. And news entities like the Enquirer maintain copies of their day-to-day coverage.

        But Ohio's constitution and its sunshine laws give citizens — not just the media — the right to scrutinize their government and courts.

        Judge Winkler said he considered the government's needs during the expungement hearing. He kept the case records open 40 days, long enough for police and city investigators to finish their work, he said.

        Beyond that, Officer Roach's rights to privacy — to get on with his life without the “pock” of the case — outweigh other interests, he said. After all, hundreds of other defendants have had their records sealed.

        But this case is different, wrote Appeals Court Judge Robert Gorman.

        “Public records are the people's records,” he said.

        In “greatly publicized” trials, the public's right to know gains importance while the defendant's right to privacy “may have become greatly attenuated” because, as Officer Roach's case, he has become a public figure, Judge Gorman wrote.

        The appellate court isn't finished yet. After it receives Judge Winkler's response, it may still decide to remove the veil from Officer Roach's case.

        But it shouldn't stop there. There are other cases of police officers accused of crimes that should be open to the public.

        E-mail damos@enquirer.com or phone 768-8395

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