OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — The Washington Supreme Court has declined to release the recordings or transcripts of a deposition given by a male prostitute as part of a criminal case against a former judge.
Michael Hecht was a Pierce County Superior Court judge when he was charged with felony harassment and patronizing a prostitute in 2009. Depositions are traditionally closed to the press, but The News Tribune newspaper sought to attend the deposition given by the prostitute in this case because the proceeding was held in a courtroom in the presence of a judge, rather than at a private law office. The judge denied the request and Hecht was later convicted.
The high court ruled 7-2 on Thursday that just because the deposition was conducted in a courtroom did not make it an open proceeding. The dissenting justices said the newspaper’s reporter should have been allowed to attend because of the state Constitution’s admonition that justice be administered openly.
