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White Pine District Judge Dan Papez rejected a motion from the High Desert Advocate Newspaper and kept the seal on Justice of the Peace Candidate Brian Boatman’s letter of support for convicted killer Toni Fratto.
In a short one page order, Papez rejected the Advocate’s motion to release the letter.
“It was disappointing but not unexpected,” said Advocate Publisher Howard Copelan. “Despite the ruling we are confident we will get the letter. We do find it odd for a letter Mr. Boatman says was innocuous, he would fight so vigorously to keep secret.”
Citing the United States Constitution as well as common law the High Desert Advocate formally petition district Judge Dan Papez two weeks ago to release a letter written in support of convicted murderer Toni Fratto by West Wendover Justice of the Peace Candidate Brian Boatman.
“Since we learned of the letter’s existence we have made informal requests to the court, to the Parole and Probation department and to Mr. Boatman himself for a copy of the letter,” said Advocate Publisher Howard Copelan. “The court and the parole department refused. Mr. Boatman said he didn’t keep a copy. So now we are doing it the hard way.”
Boatman’s letter along over two dozen others with were submitted by Fratto’s lawyers to District Court Judge Dan Papez as part of Fratto’s pre-sentence report.
In a plea deal this January Fratto agreed to plea guilty to the charge of second degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon and to testify against her boyfriend Kody Patten. Fratto like Patten had been charged with first degree murder for the march 3, 2011 killing of 16 year old Mickie Costanzo and also like her accomplice was facing the death penalty.
The letters were solicited by her parents Claud and Cassie Fratto and were delivered to the court in advance of her sentencing.
“It wasn’t a leniency letter like a lot of people are saying,” Boatman said in a interview with the Advocate earlier this year. “I just recounted how I knew her by her baby sitting my kids and through church camps. I believe I also wrote she wasn’t a throwaway kid and that I believed she was salvageable.”
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So far no one who has had access to the letter has contradicted the contents Boatman said he wrote but may have contradicted the claim boatman did not have access to the letter.
According to one of Boatman’s superiors a week after the original story appeared in the Advocate, the letter was reviewed by Elko District Judge Al Kacin with Boatman present. The purpose of the meeting was to see the if contents of the letter violated any ethical code of conduct and if so determine any punishment.
Last month Boatman insisted that he had not been given a formal reprimand or had been ‘written up’ for the letter, an assertion his superiors confirmed.
“One of our next steps is to appeal the judge’s ruling,” Copelan said. ‘ We believe that especially as a candidate for judge the public should have access to his letter. As we argued in our motion:
The Boatman Letter is only a character letter, and is unlikely to contain any information that, if made public, would prejudice any of the parties.
Moreover, Mr. Boatman is running for an elected public office in the state of Nevada, and consequently voters should have access to information about Mr. Boatman in considering whom they should vote. It is important that voters have an opportunity to weigh and assess Mr. Boatman’s actions and character. A document such as the Boatman Letter, which is already presumed to be publicly accessible, should not be sealed from public access under a general seal of all documents in this case. Any arguments of “reputation concerns” on the part of any individuals concerning the release of the Boatman Letter should not override the common-law right of public access. Kott, 135 F. App’x at 70-71. Thus, the Boatman Letter should be accessible to the general public, and specifically to voters considering Mr. Boatman as a candidate.
Additionally, members of the media have a duty to investigate issues of public concern, and make all available, pertinent information available to the public. An election is of public concern, and as such, information related to the candidates involved should be thoroughly investigated by members of the media and reported to the public. The Boatman Letter is likely to contain information that would help voters determine for whom they should cast their votes. Thus, this motion should be granted, and the Boatman Letter should likewise be unsealed.
