Does a city council have the authority to overrule an unlawful denial by police and the city attorney for public records in CA? We do not have an agency that reviews appeals and I would like to avoid the expense of going to court. Thank you.
Does a city council have the authority to overrule an unlawful denial by police and the city attorney for public records in CA? We do not have an agency that reviews appeals and I would like to avoid the expense of going to court. Thank you.
It is unlikely that the City Council is going to meet in open session and discuss a record that is arguably NOT a public record. It is kinda tough to argue about a record that may not be lawfully released, and I do not believe there is a closed session exception under the Brown Act that would allow for such a discussion unless it was as part of a legal action. More than likely, the Council might direct the City Manager to seek the advice of the city's legal counsel on the legality of the release of the record.
What record are you being denied?
Access to the recording of the radio traffic during a traffic stop that escalated to a homicide. If we have a right to appeal a decision by our DA to the AG for prosecutorial misconduct, we have to have access to some basic information. Otherwise, it's a catch-22.
If the recording is part of an ongoing investigation, internal or otherwise, then it is likely not subject to public release. You can always take it to court and see if a judge will decide that it is a public record subject to release.
And what action by the DA do you believe is "prosecutorial misconduct?"
I assume you believe that the DA should have charged the officer(s) involved, correct? As a note, charging decisions are the exclusive decision of the DA. The AG cannot and will not intercede simply because the DA did not decide to prosecute someone.
"The Attorney General's intervention is appropriate only where there is a demonstrated conflict of interest that would disqualify the district attorney from a particular case; or there is an obvious abuse of prosecutorial discretion. The fact that an incident has created strong feelings within the community or the prosecutor's decision may be controversial or unpopular does not provide a basis for intervention by the Attorney General."~CA AG website.
The investigators make numerous, significant, factual errors. They demonstrate blatant bias. They misunderstand and misrepresent the autopsy results. The ME was given false information by the coroner. Information which would have helped the ME was withheld. There is a witness who overheard investigators at the hospital, in the room with the body, talking about how they would explain the decedent's injuries: "All we have to do is say he resisted." The AG can review the investigation. That's all it would take. Then they can conduct there own investigation.
We derserve an investigation that is factually correct. I don't know if the DA should charge the officers. We don't have a proper investigation, yet. If you knew that investigators screwed up an important investigation, what would you do? Who would you talk to? I asked the DA to read the autopsy reports, himself, to do a thorough review, himself. He trusts these guys.
Knock yourself out and contact the AG. I think I have more experience dealing with the AG's office than you do, and absent some clear evidence of malfeasance, the AG is not going to intercede. But, you are certainly free to ask.
As for "factual errors" you are not privy to the facts, so you really do not know whether there were errors. There might be what you see as inconsistencies, but that will not be sufficient to compel the AG to get involved.
And, as a note, the AG's investigative resources have been greatly diminished. Their ability to look into matters is often done by attorneys now, and not by investigators because they don't have very many.
But, as I said, you can ask.
There's a lack of context, no verification that the "witness" was in a position to hear anything, and dollars to donuts he never admitted what he allegedly overheard to anyone in authority but people trying to stir the pot. This, alone, is not going to be enough to get the AG to step in.
But, as I have said, all you can do is ask. They might ask for some info from the local DA ... they might not. Unless there is some solid indication of malfeasance or a conflict of interest, the AG is not going to step in. And if the side stirring the pot feels they have some evidence of malfeasance, they can always ask the FBI to take a look. They might take even longer to evaluate things.
"There's a lack of context, no verification that the "witness" was in a position to hear anything, and dollars to donuts he never admitted what he allegedly overheard to anyone in authority but people trying to stir the pot. This, alone, is not going to be enough to get the AG to step in."
That is what an investigation should uncover. We have to have evidence of wrongdoing to get them just to look? There is a long list of mistakes. As long as they can keep the information secret they can make us look like pot stirrers and conspiracy theorists.
If I put all of my concerns in writing, in an organized, dispassionate way, can I get it past the Public Inquiry Unit?
Realisitcally? Yes. Mistakes are not the same as willful malfeasance. You need SOMETHING beyond the scope of what you've mentioned if there's going to be an investigation started. They don't commit the diminished resources available to that sort of endeavor without there being some reasonable cause to do so. Everyone who looses a case or has conspiracy theories wants an investigation, and that's just not feasible without something more than unsupported speculation to go on. If you think that records are being unlawfully concealed from you, then work with an attorney to file a motion to compel and make the parties involved convince the court that their reasons for not complying with the public records request are within the law. That's the only way to end the speculation, your, or ours - and speculation is all there is at this point.We have to have evidence of wrongdoing to get them just to look?
We can't possibly be expected to predict that. Once again: all you can do is ask. Start asking.If I put all of my concerns in writing, in an organized, dispassionate way, can I get it past the Public Inquiry Unit?