Tyco Trial Records Released in Error

An investigation into possible jury tampering in the trial of two former Tyco International Ltd. executives suffered a potential setback Thursday when sealed court documents were mistakenly made public.

At the request of prosecutors, New York State Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus ordered this week that records of some discussions leading up to his decision to declare a mistrial in the case against L. Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz be kept from the public for a short time.

But some of those records were accidentally released and appeared in at least one media outlet Thursday, providing information to the public that prosecutors have said could undermine a grand jury investigation.

Among the records supposed to be kept under seal was the transcript of a statement by juror Ruth Jordan.

That statement was made public when court stenographers accidentally sent the transcript to the media. The New York Post printed some details of the unedited version in Thursday’s edition. Most media outlets that received the transcript chose not to publish details after learning of the mistake.

The New York district attorney’s office, which has said a grand jury was looking into possible jury tampering and cautioned that the investigation could be undermined by specifics from the mistrial discussions, requested the judge restate his ruling Thursday.

Obus then informed lawyers that his order to keep sensitive records under seal remained in effect.

After the mistrial last week, a grand jury began probing whether outside influence on Jordan amounted to tampering with the jury. Jordan told the court behind closed doors during deliberations that she had received a letter and a phone call.