How to Obtain Records of a Homicide Investigation

[John Truman]

My question involves criminal records for the state of: California

This is a two-part question:

1 Does LAPD keep records of murder investigations it made in 1980?
2 May a citizen see so old a record and, if so, how does he/she go about doing so?

[cdwjava]

My question involves criminal records for the state of: California

This is a two-part question:

1 Does LAPD keep records of murder investigations it made in 1980?
2 May a citizen see so old a record and, if so, how does he/she go about doing so?

Make a request per the CPRA:

http://www.lapdonline.org/i_want_to_...sic_view/36329

[John Truman]

Thanks. I've noted the link.

[cdwjava]

Homicide cases stay open and assigned to someone as long as there's no legal "disposition".......if you ask to see the case file on an open homicide you will become part of the investigation.

Huh?

Says who?

In theory, pursuant to the Government Code, they can be permitted to see an inactive case file without providing even their name.

If open, a member of the public is generally not going to be permitted to see the case file. They might be permitted to see some of it, but not all or even most of it. This partial release of information is a tactic used in some cold case investigations as sometimes people nosing around can stir leads loose.

[Mr. Knowitall]

Pat, you need to stop posting nonsense on subjects you know nothing about. People don't want to have to clean up after you.

[cdwjava]

I'll expand on a little bit of what Pat tried to opine on in his experience working with "2000 suspicious deaths and homicides." While I cannot be sure what his involvement might have been or even what state this might have been in, this is not the way it tends to work in CA - which is also the state the OP resides in.

Pat indicated that an open case of any kind - even a dogbite - "is not" open to public inspection. In CA this is not necessarily true. An agency can certainly cite an investigatory exception articulated under GC 6254(f) to deny inspection of the record, but there is no law specifically prohibiting them from releasing the case whole or in part should they opt to (absent some other exception for juveniles, sex crimes, or other statutory exemptions from general release).

Our state GC makes most every closed case subject to public inspection. It would be incumbent upon the agency holding the record to cite good cause for their exception under that same code (6254(f)) but in a closed case it becomes much harder unless you can argue threats of retaliation, etc.

And, also pursuant to the GC, a request need not be made even in writing for inspection to be granted. Most agencies will ASK for this, and may TRY to deny the record if no written request is produced, but should the matter go before a court, the agency had best be able to argue a statutory exception or they will lose.

I WILL agree that if someone wants to see an open case, the agency may very well ask a lot of questions and make the subject provide a lot of information before they release anything at all to him ... if they choose to let him look at the file or part of it at all. And, yes, they may very well look into the history of the person making this request. It might all depend on the individual case. But, there is no law in CA requiring that this information be provided in order to make the request.