Some documents unsealed, giving clues in Capital Gazette shooting

A judge this week unsealed hundreds of pages of documents in the Capital Gazette shooting case, shedding light on the killer’s interactions with local attorneys, his jail companions and even the prosecutor handing his case.

Circuit Court Judge Laura Ripken provided no reasons for her decision, just as there are no public orders explaining why the documents were sealed to begin with. Dozens of other filings, orders and motions remain sealed.

Ripken’s move follows a request by attorneys for The Baltimore Sun and The Capital to make the files available to the public.

Last week the man who gunned down Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, John Mc

Namara, Rebecca Smith and Wendi Winters as they worked on June 28, 2018, pleaded guilty to five counts of murder and other charges.

The documents show that prosecutors and attorneys for Jarrod Ramos, 39, have been tussling over records as mundane as the release of his income tax returns. In court filings, prosecutors argue — without much detail — that those tax records would provide strong evidence that Ramos was legally sane at the time of the killings.

While Ramos has pleaded guilty, he still faces a trial to determine whether he is criminally responsible for his actions. The trial was postponed last week and no new date has been set.

While the records released are cryptic in spots, they provide clues as to his possible defenses during the next segment of the trial.

For instance, the records show that Ramos once held a federal government security clearance but lost it — and his job — after Annapolis attorney Brennan McCarthy reached out to Ramos’ employers. The records show that McCarthy alerted a government contractor to Ramos’ long history of threats and harassment against those Ramos accused of slighting him. McCarthy defended a woman Ramos was convicted of harassing.

McCarthy and several editors and reporters at the Capital had long been targeted by Ramos with vile and abusive assaults on Twitter, the records show. Eric Hartley, a reporter for the Capital Gazette, wrote a column on the harassment case and Ramos’ abusive behavior toward the woman he barely knew.

The records also show prosecutors filed motions in June and July to protect the identity of two men identified only as Inmate A and Inmate B. Judge Ripken agreed with prosecutors that the names of the inmates should be shared with defense counsel and not with Ramos. The names of the defendants were not made public, and details of their involvement with the case remain sealed.

“This motion contains confidential information and disclosure could endanger the individual, Inmate A,” wrote State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess in an Oct. 30 motion connected to the release of documents.

The documents also show that Colt Leitess had some online interaction with Ramos as early as 2014. According to motions filed by both the defense and prosecutors, Colt Leitess blocked Ramos on her Twitter account four years ago.