BLOOMINGTON -- A decades-long policy to seal every search warrant filed in McLean County has unexpectedly changed after the state’s attorney said the warrants usually should be open.

“I will advise my staff today not to seal search warrants unless there’s a court order,” said Circuit Clerk Don Everhart, reversing the longstanding practice of taping shut every search warrant file in his office.

The directive applies to newly filed search warrants. He did not know if, or how, previously closed files would be opened.

The policy change followed a comment by State’s Attorney Bill Yoder to The Pantagraph Friday.

“In regard to search warrants, unless there is a specific order requiring it, they should not be sealed,” Yoder told the newspaper.

A Pantagraph check of circuit-clerk records filed since 1999 showed every search warrant closed without any indication that a judge ordered the seal.

One clerk, who has been with the office more than three decades, could not recall a search warrant ever being filed otherwise.

“I inherited this practice,” said Everhart, who started his first term in December. He replaced Sandra Parker, who retired after almost 20 years.

Yoder said his office will continue to request closure of search records in ongoing criminal investigations or where “individual privacy and safety issues are concerned.”

Springfield media attorney Esther Seitz applauded Everhart’s policy change.

“I think this is in line with Illinois’ policy and the state constitution, which is that records are presumed to be open. Having open records allows for transparency and allows citizens to have a look at how their government is working,” said Seitz.

Limited access

McLean is one of three counties in the five-county 11th Judicial Circuit where the public has little or no access to search warrant records.

William Scanlon, trial court administrator of the circuit that includes McLean, Livingston, Logan, Woodford and Ford counties, was unaware of how the policy developed.

“I can’t tell you why they are sealed or how they got that way,” said Scanlon. 

Search warrants also are sealed in Logan and Livingston counties. Clerks in Ford and Woodford counties said some search records are sealed by a court order but others are open.

Files containing search warrants include affidavits from authorities detailing the reasons for the search. 

Advice to clerks

A 2007 opinion by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan held “there is no statutory or other authority for a circuit clerk to unilaterally seal or impound files containing search warrants, associated affidavits and the search warrants themselves.”

Madigan’s office recently advised Logan County prosecutors handling the Gee family murder case to request a court order to seal documents related to a search. A judge granted the motion to seal the records; the county has not made a search warrant accessible to the public in nearly a decade.

The Pantagraph, Decatur Herald & Review and The State (Springfield) Journal-Register have filed a lawsuit asking that Logan County search warrant records, including those in the Gee case, be opened.

Keeping search warrants under wraps is contrary to guidance from the Administrative Office of Illinois Courts and from Madigan’s office.

The “Manual on Recordkeeping” provided to clerks by the AOIC says search warrants are kept under seal “until the return is filed.”

Practices vary

Karen Slattery, president of the Illinois Association of Circuit Clerks, said practices may vary because of differing opinions by state’s attorneys.

“We have 102 counties in the state so we could do it 102 different ways,” said Slattery.

In Grundy County, where Slattery is circuit clerk, returned search warrants are open.

In several Central Illinois offices, search warrants are open unless a judge signs an order sealing the records. In Champaign, Tazewell and Peoria counties, search warrants are filed once they are served.

DeWitt County has a mixture of open and closed files. Those that are sealed are accompanied by a judge’s order.