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2 papers request Hatfill documents

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Times Wire Reports

Two newspapers asked a federal judge to make public several documents relating to a former Army scientist who was named as a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks and later exonerated.

The Los Angeles Times and the New York Times want the government’s search warrants and supporting documents involving Stephen Hatfill, who was eventually cleared in the attacks and was awarded $5.8 million in a lawsuit accusing the Justice Department of violating his privacy.

Normally, search warrants would be sealed for a person who has not been charged or indicted, lawyers said. But the public has a right to know why investigators wanted to search Hatfill’s home and on what basis the courts agreed to those searches, the newspapers argued in U.S. District Court.

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