Supreme Court: T. Denny Sanford search warrant affidavits in child porn case must be unsealed

The South Dakota Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday that search warrant affidavits related to a child pornography investigation concerning billionaire banker and philanthropist T. Denny Sanford must be unsealed.

The decision comes after a near two-year legal battle between Sanford, the Argus Leader and ProPublica, a national investigative nonprofit news source, to gain access to the five documents. Supreme Court justices heard arguments from lawyers on both sides in late March during their spring session.

The Argus Leader had first learned about the investigation into Sanford, a nationally-recognized philanthropist and namesake of the Sanford Health System, known then as only the "Implicated Individual" in 2020. At the time, the search warrants and affidavits were under seal, when normally under law, those documents are public. Sanford's name was not released publicly until November 2021.

More: T. Denny Sanford attorneys argue to keep affidavits sealed in South Dakota Supreme Court

A Second Circuit court judge, James Power, ordered in June 2022 to unseal the affidavits after the South Dakota Attorney General's Office had concluded a criminal investigation into the case against Sanford and found no chargeable offenses. Power also had the discretion to redact the documents as he saw fit without Sanford and his attorney's review. It's unclear if Sanford is continuing to be investigated in other jurisdictions and on a federal level.

But Sanford's attorneys appealed to delay the unsealing of the documents on the grounds of review in July 2022, which resulted in the case going in front of the Supreme Court.

It's the second time the court has ruled in favor of the Argus Leader and ProPublica in the press' case to gain access to the documents. Justices ruled in 2021 that some items in the search warrants are public information.

More: Affidavits in T. Denny Sanford child pornography case should be made public, judge says

In the court's decision Thursday, they found the circuit court's "approach to redaction fell soundly within its discretion, and the court appropriately exercised its discretion to 'decide whether there [were] sufficient grounds to prohibit access.'"

Shelly Conlon, the Argus Leader's news director, applauded the court's decision.

"To take on a Goliath of an influence in our community and win today is a strong victory for the public's right to know," Conlon said. "The law is clear, and the Court's decision only reaffirms the role journalism has in accountability and understanding government, public figure and law enforcement decisions."

Jon Arneson, attorney for the Argus Leader, said in a statement he was appreciative of the court's quick ruling.

"Obviously, I agree with the Supreme Court's unanimous decision," he said. "The reasoning was sound and well articulated."

David Bordewyk, the executive director of the South Dakota Newspaper Association, said the case was clear cut that the information was public.

"It's a good day for freedom of information and there aren't many of those," he said. "This is good to see the court ruled in favor of the public's right to know."

The State of South Dakota also argued in favor of transparency, according to the ruling.

Unsealing the affidavit after the conclusion of the investigation is consistent with "societal interests in having law enforcement and the judiciary operate in the public eye [that are] not overcome simply because no indictment is returned. Society has as much interest in understanding why no indictment was returned as it does in understanding why one was."

Release of the five affidavits are expected toward the end of April, barring any legal intervention by Sanford's attorneys.

Stacy Hegge, Sanford's attorney, told the Argus Leader she had no comment on if the legal team would take further action.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Sanford child porn case documents must be unsealed, Supreme Court says