KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The city of Ferguson, Missouri, and other defendants in a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the parents of Michael Brown are seeking access to any sealed juvenile records pertaining to the black teen whose 2014 fatal shooting by a white police officer set off large protests.

An attorney for Ferguson, the former police chief and ex-officer Darren Wilson filed the motion this month in St. Louis family court, saying they have a “legitimate interest” in reviewing documents about Brown’s juvenile past.

A family court judge rejected a similar request that the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and a California blogger made weeks after Brown’s death.

A Brown family attorney calls the latest effort a “smear tactic.”

Brown was unarmed when Wilson shot and killed him. A grand jury cleared Wilson, who resigned.