WICHITA, Kansas (AP) " The son of a Kansas law enforcement officer who helped investigate the 1959 killings that inspired the book "In Cold Blood" can publish his father's field notes that he contended Monday substantially contradict the account found in Truman Capote's literary masterpiece.
In a ruling made public Monday, District Court Judge Larry Hendricks said he made an error when he initially blocked publication of the criminal investigation files in 2012. His decision means that Ronald Nye of Oklahoma can use his father's files for a book he plans about the slayings of prominent farmer and community leader Herbert Clutter, his wife and two children.
The Kansas attorney general's office had sued Nye to keep him from publishing the files. Nye had planned to auction the records, but later decided to write a book with author Gary McAvoy. Nye and McAvoy can now work with agents and find a publisher for their book.
Nye's father, Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent Harold Nye, kept the case files at his home. Hendricks ruled Nye's constitutional right to publish the material outweigh the government's interest in maintaining the confidentiality of its investigative records. Nye and McAvoy would not reveal exactly what is in the files, but Nye said his father's notebooks had "vast discrepancies" from what Capote wrote.
The state's lawsuit also asked the court to decide legal ownership of the case files. The judge has made no ruling on that issue.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt's office did not respond to messages seeking comment Monday.
Clutter; his wife, Bonnie Mae Fox; and their children, 15-year-old Kenyon and 16-year-old Nancy, were killed at their rural farmhouse. The hunt for their killers mesmerized the nation, drawing journalists from across the U.S. to the small Kansas town. Parolees Dick Hickock and Perry Smith were executed for the killings in 1965.
Capote's book about the crime inspired a movie of the same name.
The judge wrote that Kansas had not shown a legal justification for suppressing the material or for interfering with the public's right to know what is in them. He also rejected the state's argument that the Clutter family's privacy concerns justified blocking their release.
O. Yale Lewis, Jr., an attorney for Nye and McAvoy, said his clients hope to have their book published in time for the 50th anniversary in September of the publication of Capote's book.
Ronald Nye said his late father took detailed notes about the case. Nye recalled that his father was so disappointed in Capote's book that he read only about 115 pages before throwing it across the room. He said his dad walked out of the movie's premiere after just 15 minutes.
Harold Nye worked for the Kansas bureau from 1955 until his retirement in 1975; he was its director from 1969 to 1971.
The state's lawsuit names as defendants Harold Nye's adult children, Ronald Nye and Terry Hurley; his widow, Joyce Nye; and McAvoy and his Seattle-based auction company, Vintage Memorabilia, which specializes in film and literature relics.