BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — The Boulder District Attorney's Office request to unseal warrants and records in the case of the King Soopers mass shooting suspect has been granted, according to Colorado court documents.
"Due to the nature of the case, nearly all (if not all) of the Warrants and Requests have been provided to the Court and approved while under seal," the district attorney's office wrote in its motion to unseal the records.
But the People are asking the court to make the unsealed warrants inaccessible to the public until the jury trial in this case is over.
"There has been a large media interest in the case since its filing. The People are concerned that to the degree the Warrants and Requests are made available... the publication of this information could potentially taint the jury pool in this case," the district attorney's office argued in its court motion.
The prosecution made the motion on the basis of Colorado criminal law (Colo. R. Crim. P. 55.1(a)) that "the Court can 'deny the public access to... any part of a court record only in compliance with this rule."'
Under that statute, the court will grant such a request if "one or more substantial interests [are] served by making the court record inaccessible to the public or by allowing only a redacted copy of it to be accessible to the public."
"I fully anticipate that all of the information contained in the warrants will be introduced during the prosecution of the case – including the preliminary hearing, motions hearings, and trial. If the judge grants the motion, the court and defense counsel would have access to all of those documents. I anticipate that the Court will post the decision on this motion on the Cases of Interest page whenever they are ready to do so. I want to emphasize, though, that all of the evidence and information will be covered in open, public court proceedings."
24-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa is accused of killing ten people at a Boulder King Soopers supermarket in March 2021. He faces a total of 115 criminal counts, including 10 counts of first-degree murder. In May 2021, eight additional counts of attempted murder were filed in the case.
Alissa was deemed competent to stand trial, Boulder District Court Judge Ingrid S. Bakke ruled last month. The defense claimed the last eight evaluations where Alissa was deemed incompetent should be key in the decision-making process, but the judge decided court will "resume the criminal proceedings in this matter."
The families of the victims of the mass shooting have been waiting for over two-and-a-half years for Alissa to go to trial after back-and-forth legal proceedings on whether the suspect was mentally competent.
"The events underlying the charges in this case have traumatized the victims in this case and their families... The release of the Warrants and Requests could potentially retraumatize those impacted by this case well before a trial is held in this matter," the district's attorney office said in its motion to unseal.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 14 at 9 a.m.
The remodeled King Soopers reopened last year. About half of those who worked there previously chose to return.
