Invited Guests Only

For at least the past three months, a yellow sign declaring “ALL JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS ARE CONFIDENTIAL” hung outside room 2D at the Guilford County courthouse. It offered a stark warning to all those who entered—if you divulge what happens inside, you could be held in contempt of court.

The sign was gone last week, but the sentiment was still very much the rule. People entering the compact wood-paneled courtroom had to sign in and state the reason why they were there. 

In the front row sat Mike Tadych, an attorney there to represent the News & Record and its former reporter, Kenwyn Caranna, who was also present. Dimon Kendrick-Holmes, the paper’s executive editor was also there. (Tadych has also represented The Assembly.) It was the same courtroom where District Court Judge Ashley Watlington-Simms ordered bailiffs to seize Caranna’s notes a year ago, and told Caranna she was not allowed to speak or write about anything she had observed in court that day. The judge issued a formal gag order five days later, threatening Caranna with contempt if she violated it. 

As we wrote last year, Watlington-Simms’ actions appeared to run afoul of two state laws, and experts said she violated the U.S. Supreme Court’s prohibition against prior restraint, or the suppression of information that a news organization has obtained. 

The paper is challenging the constitutionality of Watlington-Simms’ order, but to effectively do so, Tadych was in court on July 23 seeking an audio recording of the hearing in question. A record of what was said is necessary to file a motion to vacate the judge’s gag order and get Caranna’s notes back, he argued. 

But in a bizarre ruling, Watlington-Simms denied the request despite acknowledging that juvenile court proceedings are open to the public. She is justified in restricting public access to protect confidential information about children involved in abuse and neglect cases, she said. And despite state law saying the opposite, Watlington-Simms claimed that journalists must notify court officials before attending a juvenile court proceeding and they should not take notes. 

“At no point was [Caranna] an invited guest,” she said. 

The ruling put a fine point on what’s already a reality: court officials often bypass state laws about access when it comes to juvenile court proceedings. Earlier this year, Durham County’s abuse, neglect, and dependency court effectively barred anyone involved in child-welfare cases, including parents, from discussing their cases with the media. 

Chief District Judge Clayton Jones Jr. approved that rule change, which appeared to be in response to our three-part investigation with WBTV. The series told the stories of parents who temporarily or permanently lost custody of their children under questionable circumstances. 

In Guilford County, Caranna found in her own investigation that a foster child moves between homes every three months, triple the national average number of every eight months. The court system has been marred by numerous delays that bog down efforts to resolve cases and find children a permanent home. 

Watlington-Simms repeatedly told Tadych that her utmost priority is protecting the children who appear before her. 

“They are here because someone did something to them,” she said. 

Open Court

Caranna had spent most of the day on July 28, 2023 in Watlington-Simms’ courtroom for a story she was working on involving juvenile court. 

The story she eventually published focused on complaints that the Guilford County Department of Social Services mishandles abuse and neglect cases and that an overwhelmed juvenile court system leaves children in foster care for years. 

No bailiff stopped her. She didn’t have to sign in and no one asked her who she was. Caranna left with everyone else when Watlington-Simms closed the courtroom to hear one case. She came back in when the judge reopened the courtroom. 

Later that afternoon, Watlington-Simms asked Caranna to identify herself. Caranna told her she was a reporter and was observing how the court operated. She said she was not covering a particular case. The judge then indicated she was going to consult with Chief District Judge Teresa Vincent. Caranna asked the judge if she could consult with an attorney; the judge said no. 

When Watlington-Simms returned, she ordered Caranna not to talk about what she saw in court that day. Another attorney asked Caranna whether she took notes. Watlington-Simms repeated the question, and Caranna confirmed she had been taking notes. That’s when the judge ordered bailiffs to seize her notes and seal them. 

In the protective order, Watlington-Simms said Caranna missed a docket call in which she would have had an opportunity to notify court officials of her presence. The order’s rationale is murky. Watlington-Simms justified her actions as necessary to protect children’s privacy, but used North Carolina General Statute 7B-302, a law that has nothing to do with juvenile proceedings. In emails with The Assembly, she mangled case law and the rules of North Carolina courtrooms. For example, she cited a rule that only applies to electronic media and not print journalists. 

Back in court last Tuesday, it was clear that Watlington-Simms believes protecting confidentiality in juvenile court is paramount to all other concerns. She closed the courtroom to the public three consecutive times that morning. 

Each time, she cited North Carolina General Statute 7B-801, which outlines what a judge has to consider before closing a juvenile court proceeding involving abuse or neglect. She also consulted with county attorneys and other parties to see if they agreed with closing the courtroom and she cited her familiarity with each case. She didn’t make any specific findings, however, for why she closed the hearing. 

When she got to the paper’s request that afternoon, she heard Tadych’s argument and asked to hear from other attorneys who represented parents or children whose cases were heard at the July 2023 hearing. One attorney said her clients had been through enough trauma and did not need to have their confidential information possibly publicized. The judge also heard from Wendy Sivori, a deputy county attorney. They all objected to releasing the audio recording. 

Tadych told the judge that he didn’t intend to make the audio recordings public and would be willing to agree to an order prohibiting him from sharing the recording with the paper or Caranna. Watlington-Simms asked why he needed the recording to begin with. 

“Your client doesn’t have an independent recollection?” she said. Tadych said he wanted the audio recording so he can have an accurate account of what happened and not get bogged down in factual disputes. 

Later in the hearing, a factual dispute did emerge. Watlington-Simms denied that Caranna ever asked to speak with an attorney. The judge claimed Caranna only asked to make a phone call. Caranna said that’s not true. 

“It seems plain that the easiest way to reconcile those differences would be to have transcripts made of what was actually said in open court that day. It is disappointing that Judge Watlington-Simms denied our request to have that transcript made,” Tadych later told the News & Record. 

Waiting Game

Tadych is going to appeal the judge’s ruling, but the Court of Appeals isn’t likely to make a decision before early next year. 

Until then, Caranna will have to keep waiting to see if she’ll get her notes back. 

“Obviously, I’m disappointed,” Caranna said a day after the ruling. “I’m not only disappointed in her decision. I’m also disappointed that she insisted she’d be the one to decide … insisted that she had to be the one to decide whether we had solid evidence to challenge her gag order and her seizure of my notes.” 

Caranna said that the case was initially assigned to District Court Judge Brian Tomlin. It’s unclear whether an outside judge would have been required to hear the case. Watlington-Simms did not respond to an email seeking additional comment. Vincent did not respond to multiple requests for comment. 

Erin Cloud, a senior attorney for the nonprofit Civil Rights Corps specializing in advocacy and litigation challenging family separation, also attended the hearing. Cloud said judges handling juvenile court proceedings certainly have to balance the need for transparency with keeping certain sensitive information confidential. However, Watlington-Simms’ actions not only violate the First Amendment but due process, she said.

Having public access to juvenile court proceedings has little to do with individual cases but with the child-welfare system as a whole, Cloud said. Dependency courts oversee the rights of poor, Black, and other minority families, and there are neighborhoods where a majority of children will have some contact with child protective services, Cloud said. 

“You’re telling me I can’t understand if due process rights and constitutional rights are being given?” Cloud asked. “You can’t tell me if I can understand if there are any disparities that are happening to Black families versus white families?”

As our investigation into DSS found, nearly 1,200 North Carolina parents have their rights terminated each year, and they are disproportionately Black and overwhelmingly poor. That has been true in Guilford County for at least the past five years. In the 2022-23 fiscal year, 62% of parents who lost their parental rights were Black, state records show. 

Caranna said she was interested in detailing those systemic failures and it’s why she’s frustrated with what happened to her. She had no interest in reporting on the sordid details of individual cases, she said. She was in attendance that day “to shine a light on how the court was operating, which is supposed to be protecting these children.”

“If we’re shut out of that process,” she continued, “is that really justice?”

Disclosure: Assembly reporter Michael Hewlett has worked with both Kenwyn Caranna and Dimon Kendrick-Holmes at the Winston-Salem Journal and briefly worked at the Greensboro News & Record in the late 1990s.

Michael Hewlett is a staff reporter at The Assembly. He was previously the legal affairs reporter at the Winston-Salem Journal. You can reach him at michael@theassemblync.com.