R.I. high court refuses to disclose 38 Studios grand-jury records

PROVIDENCE — The state Supreme Court Wednesday struck down Gov. Gina Raimondo’s quest for the disclosure of grand-jury records of the investigation into the state’s disastrous $75-million investment in former Red Sox great Curt Schilling’s doomed 38 Studios video-game company.

The high court, in a ruling written by Justice Francis X. Flaherty, affirmed Superior Court Presiding Justice Alice B. Gibney’s 2017 ruling that the governor had failed to demonstrate a particularized need that would allow the court to breach grand-jury secrecy rules.

“Allowing public clamor alone to justify disclosure would cause the exception to swallow the rule,” Gibney said.

The Supreme Court held “unhesitatingly” that Gibney had not abused her discretion, as the governor argued in November.

“For many people in this state, particularly those who are currently holding public office, the 38 Studios situation and the company’s bankruptcy, occurring as it did just as the entire country was clawing its way out of the Great Recession, still stings. We certainly understand those feelings,” Flaherty wrote. “However, after careful consideration of the issues ably briefed and argued by the parties, the judgment of the Superior Court is affirmed.”

The statewide grand jury sat for 18 months, ending in 2015 with no criminal indictments related to 38 Studios. State lawmakers, former state Economic Development Corporation board members and staff, and 38 Studios executives were among the 146 people interviewed by the grand jury. The attorney general’s office in February 2017 confirmed that the 38 Studios investigation was closed.

Grand-jury secrecy rules generally prohibit the disclosure of any information that would reveal some secret aspect of the investigation, but the court has discretion to waive those rules in certain circumstances.

The American Civil Liberties Union, Common Cause Rhode Island, the New England First Amendment Coalition and the Rhode Island Press Association joined Raimondo in a friend-of-the-court brief, arguing that 38 Studios represents the rare exception in which the public interest in transparency outweighs the need for grand jury secrecy.