SEALING OF COURT RECORDS

The process for sealing court records shall be governed by Rule 79 of The Uniform Local Civil Rules of the Northern and Southern Districts of Mississippi EXCEPT for the following specific documents: (A) Charging Instruments and Warrants. The government may seek to seal charging instruments and warrants as directed by the court. (B) Plea Agreements. (1) (2) All plea agreements shall be submitted with original signatures in paper format to the court and shall be sanitized by the drafter of any references to cooperation.

After a plea has been accepted in open court, plea agreements shall be scanned and electronically filed as public, unsealed documents. All plea agreements shall be accompanied by a sealed document titled “Plea Supplement.” The Plea Supplement will also contain the government’s sentencing recommendation. The Plea Supplement will be electronically filed under seal. All cases will be docketed identically with reference to a sealed Plea Supplement, regardless of whether or not a cooperation agreement exists.

(3) The district judge may order the entire plea agreement to be sealed for a specified period of time if the court finds that exceptional circumstances exist warranting the sealing of the agreement. (C) Motions for Sentence Reductions based on Cooperation with the Government. (1) (2) Government motions filed pursuant to Fed. R. Crim. P. 35 or Section 5K1.1 of the United States Sentencing Guidelines or 18 U.S.C. § 3553(e) shall be filed under seal without prior leave of court. The government must provide notice to counsel for the defendant that such motion has been filed and provide defense counsel with a copy of the motion.

Defense counsel may not copy or distribute the motion nor may they reveal the contents of the motion to anyone other than their client without prior leave of court. (3) Said motions will remain under seal indefinitely unless and until a court enters an order directing that they be unsealed. 5