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Adding an alleged violation of press freedoms to an already complex criminal prosecution, lawyers for the San Francisco Chronicle have asked a federal judge presiding over the case against Berkeley real estate tycoon Lakireddy Bali Reddy to unseal dozens of documents in the case on First Amendment grounds.  

A hearing on the request is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Tuesday, March 6 in Oakland Federal District Court. 

“A host of documents have been sealed in violation of the press’ and public’s constitutional and common law rights of access to pretrial hearings and documents,” Chronicle attorney Roger Myers told the court in papers filed last month. “The sealing of the records is unconstitutional,” he argued. 

Reddy, Berkeley’s largest residential landlord, was charged last year with smuggling Indian immigrants into the United States for cheap labor and sex, including sex with minors. Reddy’s two sons, 31-year-old Vijay Kumar Lakireddy and 42-year-old Prasad Lakireddy, as well as his brother, 47-year-old Jayprakash Lakireddy, and his sister-in-law, Annapurna Lakireddy, 46, have also been charged in a conspiracy which prosecutors say dates back to 1986.  

Paul Wolf, the lawyer for Reddy’s older son, said Tuesday that the 63-year-old Reddy had a third son who died a decade ago in an automobile accident while he was a medical student. 

The Hearst Corporation, which now owns the Chronicle, first became involved in the case last October when it faxed an urgent request to judge Saundra Brown Armstong seeking access to a closed court session at which Reddy and his relatives were expected to plead guilty to a host of federal crimes. After the court granted the request, opening the 

hearing to members of the news media, the defendants declined to enter guilty pleas in open court. 

Now the paper has intervened as a party in the case. Chronicle attorney Myers contends that “virtually the entire file” in the case against one defendant is unavailable for viewing by the public, while a total of 27 documents in the case against Reddy are closed to public 

scrutiny. 

“Each passing day may constitute a separate and cognizable infringement of the First Amendment,” Myers argued. He asked the court for an order “immediately unsealing all records sealed in these cases.” 

Since the aborted entry of guilty pleas last October, meanwhile, Reddy’s older son Prasad Lakireddy has changed his mind and informed the court he will not plead guilty.  

That decision could scuttle a tentative plea agreement the other defendants reached late last year with the government, according to papers filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney John W. Kennedy. He called the joint agreement a “package deal,” that would be withdrawn if even one of the five defendants declined to plead guilty.  

“The government and defendants are still discussing this matter and hope to find a solution to the present impasse,” Kennedy told the court in December. But he said the government will proceed to trial against all five defendants if no new agreement is reached. 

Paul Wolf, the lawyer for Prasad Lakireddy, declined to comment Tuesday on his client’s decision not to plead guilty.  

The plea agreement with the remaining defendants, though, would not likely be in jeopardy now had Hearst lawyers not filed their emergency request last year seeking access to the courtroom where Reddy and his relatives were preparing to enter guilty pleas on October 30.  

After Judge Armstrong granted Hearst’s request to receive the pleas in open court, lawyers for the defendants decided not to finalize the plea deal. They argued that intense media scrutiny could prejudice a jury in the event the court refused to accept the plea agreement. 

Chronicle attorney Roger Myers did not return a phone call Tuesday seeking comment. Reddy’s lawyer Ted Cassman did not return a request for comment by press time.