Odd Cross-Jurisdictional Unsealing Twist Related to Jordan Neely Case

From Southerland v. Bragg, decided Friday by Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein (S.D.N.Y.):

The complaint in this case seeks to obtain judicial records (and possibly other records) relating to Jordan Neely, who as a child was a witness at the New Jersey trial that resulted in plaintiff's conviction for murder. Over a decade later, Neely was the victim in a prosecution brought in New York against Daniel Penny, which resulted in an acquittal. Under a New York State statute, Criminal Procedure Law § 160.50, that acquittal in turn resulted in the sealing of the records in the criminal case against Penny (and thus of any documents therein that relate to Neely). Plaintiff's complaint seeks to have this Court unseal the New York state court records in the Penny case to obtain any records relati