All documents except for one to be unsealed in Brown case

All the court documents in the case of the State of Montana vs. Michael Paul Brown – accused of shooting four people to death inside the Owl Bar in August of 2025 – except for one will be released, as the 3rd Judicial District Court will lift its previous order sealing those documents in response to a collective effort by a group of statewide media agencies seeking to unseal them. 

In an order issued yesterday – Tuesday, April 28 and signed by Judge Jeffrey Dahood, the court vacated its previous order sealing the documents, with the exception of one, listed as Court Document 25, however "due to the sensitive nature of the case, and to allow time for associated parties to be notified of the change in status, all pleadings in this matter ... shall be unsealed on May 8, 2026," the court wrote. 

That was in response to a motion by the State of Montana, represented by Stephanie D. Robles and Meghann F. Paddock, assistant attorneys general and special deputy to Anaconda-Deer Lodge County, with ADLC County Attorney Morgan Smith, moving that the documents be unsealed. Notably to be unsealed is the State's Motion for Leave to File and Affidavit in Support, that is the document stating the facts as alleged that support the state's charges against Brown of four felony counts of deliberate homicide, one felony count of attempted arson, one felony count of theft and one misdemeanor count of fleeing or eluding a peace officer. That affidavit in support has been under seal since the manhunt for Brown was still ongoing, and later an amended affidavit filed on Sept. 2 has been under seal since the same date. 

Then on Jan. 20 of this year, a collective effort by a group of statewide media agencies – the Montana Newspaper Association, Montana Free Press, the Montana Broadcasters' Association, Lee Enterprises Inc., States Newsroom d/b/a Daily Montanan and the Montana FOI Coalition – began seeking to unseal the documents, first by filing a motion seeking leave to appear before the court to request the sealing order be lifted, citing the Montana Constitution's provisions for the public's right to know as well as Montana statute and Montana Supreme Court precedent. That motion was denied without a hearing as the court found that the media agencies did not have standing to file in the case. 

The agencies then filed a petition for a writ of supervisory control with the Montana Supreme Court, which was granted by the Supreme Court on March 24, with the justices ordering that there be a hearing in the matter seeking to unseal the documents. That hearing had been set for April 30 – and in the interests of full disclosure, the Anaconda Leader prepared and submitted to the media agencies' legal counsel a document containing all of our coverage of the Brown case, however that hearing has now been vacated per the court's order unsealing the documents. 

Documents in the media agencies' petition to the Montana Supreme Court are available to read online at https://supremecourtdocket.mt.gov/case-info/active/27961. 

This continues to be a developing story.