A judge granted a motion on Friday allowing the Connecticut woman accused of holding her stepson captive for over two decades to access his alias, address and medical records, her attorney said.
Kimberly Sullivan appeared in Waterbury court on Friday to request the information, which her attorneys argued she has a constitutional right to access.
Sullivan was arrested and arraigned in March on charges of kidnapping, assault, unlawful restraint and other crimes in connection with her stepson’s alleged captivity. She is out on bond, which was set at $300,000, and has pleaded not guilty.
On Friday, a judge granted the defense’s motion to give Sullivan access to her stepson’s alias and address. The judge also granted their motion to preclude the stepson’s attorney from addressing the court about anything other than the plea and sentencing, according to Sullivan’s attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis.
Kaloidis told NBC News that the ruling granting his client access to information about the alleged victim “was the only logical conclusion to reach.”
“We argued to the court that this wasn’t about his feelings, but about the rules of procedure and the rules of practice,” Kaloidis said. “In the Constitution, it is standard in every criminal case to disclose the name and address of witnesses, especially the accuser.”
The stepson told authorities that he intentionally set a fire in his room on Feb. 17 to secure his freedom from the home he shared with Sullivan, according to court records. The man, then 31, alleged that his stepmother starved him and held him captive in a small, locked room in the house for more than two decades.
Authorities found the man severely emaciated, about 68 pounds on his 5-foot-9 frame, and said he had been subjected to “prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect and inhumane treatment.” The defense has cast doubt on the now 32-year-old’s weight at the time he was found.
The stepson has never been publicly identified. Earlier this year, he spoke out for the first time and addressed himself as “S,” a decision he said marks “the first of many choices” he will make now that he’s free.
Donald Therkildsen, the supervisory assistant state’s attorney, told the court Friday that the “victim is terrified of this defendant,” NBC Connecticut reported.
“The allegations are that he was almost dead when he made his escape after being locked for 20 years,” Therkildsen said. “This is no different than a domestic violence victim being at a safe haven home. We certainly wouldn’t disclose the address of a safe haven home to a domestic violence abuser.”
Attorneys for Sullivan had filed a request to obtain the stepson’s medical records, which the state said it would allow under certain conditions, including that the victim’s alias and address be withheld from the defendant, according to a filing in Connecticut’s Superior Court, Judicial District of Waterbury.
Sullivan’s attorneys filed an objection days later, arguing that their client has a constitutional right to access her stepson’s alias and address, that she has not harassed the man, and that the nature of the legal proceedings do not warrant withholding this information.
The state defended its position in a memorandum filed last week, saying that withholding the information “does not lower the burden of proof or obstruct the defendant’s right to confrontation.”
“Disclosure of the victim’s current alias to the defendant would only increase the potential for harassment and harm with respect to the victim’s mental health,” the state said in the memorandum.
Attorneys for Sullivan hit back in a filing earlier this week, once again defending their client’s compliance with the conditions of her release, and arguing that the state’s motion “represents an unprecedented attempt to insulate an accuser from the normal processes of adversarial justice.”
The judge on Friday did grant a request from the state ensuring the stepson’s medical records only be viewed in the office of the defense for the purposes of the case, NBC Connecticut reported.
Also on Friday, the judge denied a motion from Sullivan’s attorneys filed in August asking the court to remove her GPS tracker. The judge said the issue can be revisited later on.
The next hearing is set for Dec. 19, according to Kaloidis.
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