“As written, Senate Bill 2254 would inflict serious damage on the public’s and the media’s ability to access third-party records, not only in sexual assault cases, but across the legal spectrum. It also could be used to prevent defense attorneys from discussing evidence with their clients. Police and prosecutors could simply redact from documents any identifying information about an alleged victim. And the broadly worded bill would prohibit public officials from disclosing “any portion of a report, paper, picture, photograph, video, court file or other document which tends to identify such alleged victim.”
