District Court Judge Jeffrey Dahood on Tuesday ordered the unsealing of nearly all charging documents in the state's homicide case against Michael Paul Brown, who is charged with fatally shooting four people in Anaconda last summer. The ruling came after months of legal dispute between media organizations, prosecutors, Brown's defense, and the court over the public's right to access court records in a criminal proceeding.

Only one document will remain sealed — identified by the Montana Freedom of Information Coalition as a mental health evaluation. All other charging documents are set to become public following Tuesday's order from Dahood.

The path to Tuesday's order was contested. In January, media organizations including Montana Free Press sought to intervene in the criminal case, arguing that Dahood had improperly sealed the case's documents and proceedings in August without giving the press an opportunity to object. Dahood rejected that request, writing that the organizations "provided no authority to establish why they would have standing in this case." In late March, a Montana Supreme Court panel reversed that decision, ordering Dahood to allow the organizations to argue for public access. Chief Justice Cory Swanson signed that ruling, which said Dahood's intervention denial was based on "a fundamental misunderstanding of governing law."

Dahood had scheduled a hearing for Thursday, April 30, to take up the question of which documents to release. But prosecutors, Brown's defense team, and counsel for the media outlets reached an agreement before that hearing took place. Prosecutors filed a motion to release nearly all of the documents, which Dahood granted Tuesday.

Brown faces charges in connection with the deaths of four people in Anaconda last summer. The unsealing of charging documents will allow the public and press to review the state's case for the first time since proceedings were closed last August.