Lawyers for the City of Portland have cited the production of the documentary Alien Boy in arguing why the media and public should still not be able to see certain documents about the officers involved in James Chasse’s death, which are currently covered by a gag order, in the case filed by Chasse’s family against the city.

Full disclosure: I’m working on the film with director Brian Lindstrom and the Mental Health Association of Portland.

The original gag order, signed on May 25, 2008 October 23, 2007 by Judge Denis Hubel, prohibits the release of broad categories of documents associated with the case to the public. Now, attorneys for the Chasse family are asking that the gag orders be reviewed so that the following documents can be made public: Internal affairs documents; documents from Officer Humphreys and Nice’s personnel files; PPB training documents; PPB after action reports; and City of Portland records involving in-custody deaths.

On page seven of its response, the city says Alien Boy’s production presents a safety risk to the officers involved:
Releasing the requested evidence, says the city, could result in hostility towards the defendants that is prejudicial to the trial. This begs the question: What’s in those documents, exactly? In addition, the city has attached two pages of posts from the Alien Boy blog as exhibits, intending to suggest the film’s supposed dangerousness.