Media group wants another sentencing document from Petraeus case

A media group seeking to know more about the sentencing of former CIA Director David Petraeus has expanded the list of case documents it wants unsealed.

The group, which includes the Observer, has now asked U.S. Magistrate Judge David Keesler of Charlotte to release his written reasons behind the punishment handed down against Petraeus last month.

On April 23, Keesler sentenced the country’s former top military commander to two years’ probation and a $100,000 fine after Petraeus pleaded guilty to sharing military and diplomatic secrets with his biographer and former lover, Paula Broadwell of Charlotte. The crime carried a maximum sentence of up to one year in prison.

The media group – which also includes the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Associated Press and National Public Radio, among others – had asked Keesler to allow the public to see the sentencing memorandum filed by the Petraeus’ defense team along with several dozen letters written in the defendant’s behalf.

Now the group wants the judge to release a third document – the written reasons behind his sentencing – which were entered under seal on April 29.

Observer attorney Jon Buchan, who filed the new request on behalf of the media coalition, argues that the public has a clear First Amendment right to the document “given the vital role ... public oversight plays in ensuring the proper functioning of the courts.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte has yet to weigh in on the debate. On Monday, Keesler, a former federal prosecutor, gave acting U.S. Attorney Jill Westmoreland Rose and her staff another week to respond to the media’s request.

Meanwhile, Petraeus’ lawyers do not object to the release of the sentencing memorandum or the letters written in their client’s behalf – with two caveats.

In his filing, Charlotte attorney Jake Sussman has asked Keesler to redact one sentence in the memo that also appears in the government’s confidential presentencing report. The defense team also has asked the judge to strike telephone numbers, emails and home addresses that also may appear on the letters.

Petraeus was sentenced under an agreement between his attorneys, former Attorney General Eric Holder and local prosecutors. Critics of the punishment accuse the general of compromising national security and obstructing justice by lying to the FBI. They say he received a lighter punishment than what was handed down against noncelebrity defendants in similar cases. Petraeus’ attorneys say he got what he deserved because none of the information he shared with Broadwell ever appeared in print.

Rose says the investigation that led the FBI to the affair between Petraeus and Broadwell and their exchange of classified information remains open.

This story was originally published May 11, 2015 at 4:41 PM with the headline "Media group wants another sentencing document from Petraeus case."