Defense Attorney In Dugard Case Seeks To Keep Seal
PLACERVILLE (AP) -- The attorney representing one of two people charged in the Jaycee Lee Dugard kidnapping case is seeking to keep the documents in the case sealed.
Stephen Tapson, the court-appointed attorney representing Nancy Garrido, filed legal documents in El Dorado Superior Court Monday asking the judge presiding over the case against his client and her husband, Phillip Garrido, to keep the documents and transcripts in the case sealed.
In the filing, Tapson argues that a "release of the previously sealed documents would prejudice her (Nancy Garrido's) right to a fair jury trial."
Phillip and Nancy Garrido were each indicted on 18 counts that ranged from rape to false imprisonment, plus multiple special allegations. The special allegations could lead to tougher sentences if the Garridos are convicted.
Authorities said the Garridos abducted Dugard, then 11, from a South Lake Tahoe bus stop in 1991 and held her captive until she and her children surfaced at the office of Phillip Garrido's parole agent.
Garrido fathered the two children, authorities said.
Nancy Garrido has pleaded not guilty to the charges, while the criminal proceedings against her husband were suspended to evaluate his mental competency.
As part of the filing, Tapson stated that "defendant Phillip Garrido accompanied by Nancy Garrido, kidnapped Jayce Lee Dugard in South Lake Tahoe, Calif." Previously only prosecutors had said Dugard was kidnapped.
A call left with Tapson's office after regular business hours seeking additional comment was not immediately returned.
The filing comes ahead of hearing set for Thursday on Phillip Garrido's competency and ability to enter his own plea.
El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Douglas Phimister on Thursday will also consider a motion filed earlier this month by The Associated Press, The Sacramento Bee, the Hearst Corp., Gannett Co. Inc., the Los Angeles Times and the Bay Area News Group seeking to unseal the documents.
In that motion, San Francisco-based attorney Karl Olson said there is "no justification for sealing any records" in the case against the Garridos.
Dugard, now 30, is writing a memoir for Simon & Schuster. The publisher said the book will cover her life from the abduction to how she is doing now.
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