State of Connecticut v. Joshua Komisarjevsky

Summary

The court treated the defendant's certified appeal as a late direct public-interest appeal and therefore did not decide whether the order unsealing the witness list was independently appealable as a final judgment. On the merits, it held that the trial court abused its discretion by requiring proof of intimidation directed at specific listed individuals before weighing the defendant's Sixth Amendment rights against public access, and it ordered the sealing order reinstated. Justice Zarella, joined by Justice McLachlan, concurred in reversing the unsealing order but would have reached the merits through interlocutory review rather than treating the appeal as a public-interest appeal.