AP reported today that – A judge on Thursday refused to seal records and proceedings in the ongoing custody battle involving Sean Parnell, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, or grant Parnell’s request to bar his wife from talking about past restraining orders she had sought against him.
Judge James Arner, overseeing the Butler County custody case, refused Parnell’s request for an order that would have barred his wife, Laurie, and her attorney from publicly discussing two temporary protection-from-abuse orders issued against Parnell in 2017 and 2018. In his order, the judge also declined to seal the custody case’s records and to bar Laurie Parnell from discussing the case, as Parnell sought.
But Arner did order both parents, who are seeking a divorce, to refrain from disclosing any information about the mental and physical health and treatment of their three children, as well as any information about psychological evaluations of the Parnells and their children filed as part of the dispute.
On September 1, Donald Trump endorsed Parnell’s candidacy for the U.S.Senate. However, his major opponents in the Republican Primary, Jeff Bartos, Kathy Barnette and Carla Sands have not dropped out of the race.
Parnell might have been motivated to seek the order that would have prevented his wife from speaking about the protection-from-abuse order after Bartos released a video that depicted Parnell as sexist and violent.