Nov 6, 2009 3:35 pm US/Eastern
Judge Approves Release Of Some Yale Killing Files
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (CBS) ―
A Connecticut judge says the state must unseal documents detailing the case against a former Yale University employee accused of murdering graduate student Annie Le.
New Haven Superior Court Judge Roland Fasano ruled Friday that the documents must be released in three business days. Certain sensitive information will remain confidential.
Raymond Clark III is charged with murder, but has not yet entered a plea. His next court date is Dec. 21.
Clark was a lab technician in the Yale medical research building where Le's body was found on what was supposed to be her wedding day on Sept. 13, five days after she disappeared.
News organizations had asked Fasano to unseal the documents.
Prosecutors opposed the request, citing the privacy rights of Le's family and the need to ensure an impartial jury.
Yale President Richard Levin called Le "a model student for the Yale of the 21st century a child of immigrants, raised in America, bright, accomplished, ambitious and disciplined, yet caring, loving and spontaneous."
Le was a doctoral pharmacology student from Placerville, Calif., who worked on a team that experimented on mice as part of research into enzymes that could have implications for treatment of cancer, diabetes and muscular dystrophy.
Classmate Tara Bancroft recalled a brilliant, beautiful, funny and loyal friend, who could do surgery on a mouse in 5-inch heels, and put smiley faces on her presentations without losing anyone's respect.
Le's adviser, professor Anton Bennett, said the 4-foot-11, 90-pound Le was a passionate dreamer with a plan who would not let her diminutive size get in her way.
"She gave the impression that she was much larger than her physical size," Bennett said. "Annie was large in life, and always seemed to make herself heard. Annie loved to talk and no one who was to come into the lab was big enough to stop her."
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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