A Denver judge refused Monday to unseal arrest- and search- warrant affidavits written by detectives probing the death of 7-year-old Chandler Grafner.
Denver County Judge Melvin Okamoto said defense attorneys for Jon Phillips, 26, and Sarah Berry, 21, had had little opportunity to start their own investigation of the case.
As a result, Okamoto said, he believed that after balancing the rights of the press and the fair- trial rights of Phillips and Berry, he had to rule in favor of the two defendants.
The Denver Post was seeking the unsealing of the affidavits. Post editor Greg Moore said he and the paper’s attorneys were considering an appeal or the possibility of refiling the motion to unseal the records in the future.
Phillips and Berry are charged with first-degree murder of a child under the age of 12 by a person in a position of trust; first-degree murder after deliberation, and child abuse resulting in death.
Authorities said the child was found emaciated at the couple’s south Denver apartment on May 6 and died a short time later of cardiac arrest.
“We are happy that they were both charged with murder one,” said Sandra Younger, Chandler’s maternal grandmother.
Without public disclosure of the evidence in the case, the answers to key questions remain unknown: Why would Phillips, with no biological connection to Chandler, seek custody of the boy in January, only to allegedly starve him to death five months later? How could Berry work, apparently competently, as a teacher’s aide at Chandler’s elementary school at almost the same time the charges allege she and Phillips were slowly killing him?
Phillips and Berry next face a preliminary hearing in the case, which is scheduled for July.
Staff writer Felisa Cardona contributed to this report.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
