Matter of Carey v. State of New York

In Matter of Carey v. State of New York (68 AD2d 220) Governor Carey sought to release excerpts from the Grand Jury investigation into the Attica uprising. Doubt had been cast on the integrity of the various prosecutions and the claimed laudable purpose for publication was to provide the public with more information about the criminal justice system, the press, and police response to the riot. Nonetheless, the Fourth Department refused to permit disclosure of the minutes because the reputations of unindicted individuals could be harmed, the nature of the disclosure "far exceed[ed] anything previously authorized by any court," and the public interest was not great enough to justify disclosure (68 AD2d at 228-230).