New Haven Superior Court Judge Roland Fasano said he expects to rule by this coming Friday on whether to unseal the arrest and search warrant affidavits for Raymond Clark III, who has been charged with the murder of Annie Le GRD ’13.
Clark, 24, was not present at the hearing today and has yet to enter a plea. His defense attorney, Joseph Lopez, asked for more time to decide whether to request a probable cause hearing, at which the judge would decide whether the prosecution has enough evidence to proceed to trial. Lopez said Clark is waiting to see more of the evidence against him.
The prosecutors, meanwhile, asked that the court documents remained sealed for at least another two weeks. After several news organizations requested last month that the search and arrest warrants be unsealed, both the defense and prosecution argued at an Oct. 20 pretrial hearing for the documents to remain sealed. The attorney for the Hartford Courant, which is leading the motion, was also not in court today.
State prosecutor John Waddock said at the Oct. 20 hearing that Le’s family was concerned that releasing any information about her death would invade the family’s privacy. Clark’s defense attorney, Beth Merkin, said keeping the information in the documents secret would help to ensure “a fair and impartial jury, one that is not affected by any adverse pre-trial publicity.”
After Le’s body was found hidden behind a wall in the basement of the Yale research building at 10 Amistad St., Clark, a former Yale animal lab technician, was arrested on Sept. 17 and charged with her murder. He is being held at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield, Conn., on $3 million bond.
Clark is due back in court Dec. 21.
Read more in tomorrow’s News.