I want to discuss a case from the Pennsylvania Superior Court of Commonwealth v. Martinez from 2007. Commonwealth v. Martinez, 2007 PA Super 33 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2007) This case relates to information relied upon at sentencing by the judge. In this particular case, it was argued that the letters presented to the sentencing court by the defense attorney, on behalf of defendant, are public judicial documents for which the news media has a presumption of access.
The argument was that it does not matter whether or not the documents were formally docketed. The sentencing court contended that the letters are "akin to a presentence investigation report". Presentence reports or "confidential and not of public record". This is based upon the Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 703(a). There is no dispute that the letters were not made part of the presentence investigation report in the present case, but the rules simply do not discuss letters on behalf of the defendant. In this case, it was determined that pretrial materials submitted have an underlying confidentiality basis and are reflective of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's recognition that the materials contained therein should be afforded presumptive confidentiality.