Lawson sues to keep 1983 statements secret

FRANKFORT — Lawyers for indicted road contractor Leonard Lawson want a state court judge to stop the Kentucky Attorney General from releasing information about a 1983 criminal case involving one of Lawson’s former companies.

Bill Nighbert (left) and Leonard Lawson

In court documents filed Monday in Franklin Circuit Court, lawyers for Lawson argue that information and a recording made by Lawson in 1983 should not be released because it would be an unwarranted invasion of privacy and it would make it difficult for Lawson to get a fair trial in an upcoming federal criminal case.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for July 20.

Shelley Catharine Johnson, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Jack Conway, said Monday that the office will not release any documents relating to the 1983 guilty plea until after the July 20 hearing.

Lawson, who currently is facing criminal charges involving the bribing of state road officials, tried unsuccessfully this month to get U.S. District Judge Karl Forester to issue an injunction to stop the release of recordings and other information Lawson supplied to the Kentucky Attorney General during a criminal case involving Mountain Enterprises, which Lawson has since sold. Forester ruled Thursday that he had no jurisdiction over the state’s Open Records Act.

Mountain Enterprises pleaded guilty to violating the anti-trust laws in a case that involved several state contractors who colluded on bids. The information that Lawson gave to investigators as part of the plea deal involves more than seven companies and approximately 18 individuals, some of whom were not charged.

The Courier-Journal, the Herald-Leader and the Associated Press had filed a request under the state’s Open Records Act for information that Lawson gave during the 1983 case. The Attorney General’s office, in a letter, said they believed that the information could be released under the state’s Open Records Act because it was a closed investigation.

A judge has ruled that information regarding the 1983 conviction could not be used in the current federal case against Lawson.

Also charged in the case are former Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert and a Lawson employee, Brian Billings. Federal prosecutors believe that Lawson paid state transportation employees for confidential cost estimates and then tried to cover it up. A trial will likely be held in November, a federal judge has said.

The lawsuit names Attorney General Jack Conway, the Courier-Journal, the Herald-Leader and the Associated Press as defendants in the case.

– Beth Musgrave