Court to hear case about murder victim's file

By Allison Floyd
Published in the Athens Banner-Herald
12/03/07

The Georgia Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments today whether justices should overturn a lower court decision that would give the Athens Banner-Herald access to the 15-year-old file of murder victim Jennifer Lynn Stone.

Stone, a 22-year-old University of Georgia student was raped and strangled in her Hull Street apartment in April 1992.

The newspaper sued Athens-Clarke County in 2005, arguing that the Stone case has gone cold, along with the investigation into who killed Tara Louise Baker in 2001, and the cases no longer are exempted from Open Records law.

Attorneys for the local government argued that police continue to investigate the cases and evidence included in national databases could point to a killer, if he is arrested somewhere else.

A Clarke County judge sided with the local government, but the Georgia Court of Appeals agreed with the newspaper that the Stone investigation no longer is pending.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear the local government's final appeal, and justices will hear arguments this morning.

The case has garnered supporters on both sides.

The Georgia Municipal Association and Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police have lent their support to Athens-Clarke County, while the Georgia First Amendment Foundation backs the newspaper's argument.

-Allison Floyd