The opinion is here; you can also see a long summary by Colin Kalmbacher (Law & Crime). Here’s a passage that might serve as a warning to lawyers:
The Commonwealth also asserts that to release information about the grand jury proceedings in this case would “destroy the principle of secrecy that serves as the foundation of the grand jury system.” To be clear, this Court’s ruling on this motion is applicable only to this case. Further, when considering the Attorney General’s swift compliance with the trial court’s order to release the grand jury recordings, coupled with the Attorney General’s multiple public statements and characterizations about the grand jury and the resulting indictment, the Commonwealth’s objection now reads as theatrical sturm und drang.
And a follow-up that goes more towards explaining the court’s decision:
There exist additional interests to consider in making this decision: the interest of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Kentucky to be assured that its publicly elected officials are being honest in their representations; the interest of grand jurors, whose service is compelled, to be certain their work is not mischaracterized by the very prosecutors on whom they relied to advise them; and, the interest of all citizens to have confidence in the integrity of the justice system. Considering those interests, there is no doubt that justice requires disclosure of the grand jury proceedings in this case.
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