Epstein Plea Deal Remains Sealed, Attorneys Claim Women Were Procured for Sex as Minors

Page 2 EPSTEIN PLEA DEAL TO REMAIN SEALED FOR NOW Palm Beach Daily News June 11, 2009 Thursday Whether procedure was followed is not the issue, he said. "Certainly it should be unsealed regardless. I mean this is a very unusual circumstance where a document like this would be sealed," Edwards said. "None of the other criminal defendants in there (Judge Colbath's courtroom) had their plea bargains, plea agreements, their non-prosecution agreements, sealed." Edwards said his firm represents three women who claim they were procured for sex with Epstein when they were underage. The three are outraged that the document is under wraps, Edwards said. Deanna Shullman, the attorney representing the Post, said the public and the press have a constitutional right of ac- cess to public records in Florida. "Fortunately, the status quo is openness. So I think the judge has the idea that the initial closure was done without any adherence to those procedures but was inclined to give Mr. Epstein's lawyers additional time to prove that they should be sealed in accordance with these procedures," Shullman said. "It's a little disappointing in that we would have liked to see the judge unseal the record because that's what should be the status quo in a situation like this," Shullman said. -- drogers @pbdailynews.com LOAD-DATE: September 1, 2010 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_013429