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The Jacob Wetterling Case

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The Jacob Wetterling Case
The Jacob Wetterling case is, at its core, a dispute over whether access to nonessential government files by the press, specifically investigative reports, or the privacy rights of individuals is ensured by the Constitution of the United States and without the realm of the state. The family of Jacob Wetterling, a young boy who was abducted and murdered in 1989, issued a lawsuit against the Stearns County as it prepared to release the opened state files to government watchdog groups and media coalitions as per their requests and state law. The investigation itself has been closed and a conviction issued, so the basis for the Wetterling’s lawsuit is a concern that their privacy is being violated as the files contain information they deem confidential.

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