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So I went to the Department to pick up the information and this is what I was furnished.
TempleResponse.pdf
While I was there, I noticed there was no sign posted. The Texas Public Information Act requires a government agency to display a sign that displays the rights of the requestor.
Nope, no sign. Here is a close up of the sign visible on the right of the photo:
The above was representative of the interaction I had with the department. The records guy was not very helpful but there is no sense in raising a fuss there, I followed up with another e-mail.
A few days later, I received this response from the "Office Assistant":
Here is the request - OPEN RECORDS REQUEST_041113SCAN.pdf
Here is the interesting thing about an AG request. Since the requester does not get a copy of the information, all an agency has to do is "forget" to send information in their possession and the AG rules only on information sent. If they only send information they know is exempt, the response is always in their favor or as they desire it to be.
The catch is, since it is not permissible to see what they sent, it is almost impossible to prove the information sought was not submitted for the AG to rule on.
The other problem is 99.9% of people who take the time to make a request give up after the initial rejection. It's not like the government would lie or do something unethical.
Sure enough this is the response from the AG:
The AG open records people crack me up sometimes. They are not stupid. You have to check the line that goes: However, you must release the basic information, including a detailed description of the offense, pursuant to section 552.108(c) of the Government Code.
Ms. Rodriguez is standing behind the police department and has not made "a detailed description of the offense" available. The response narrative said "See offense report" and the offense report narrative was determined to be excepted information.
On 4-26-13, I called to follow-up on the e-mail above and was told Ms. Rodriguez was in a meeting and unavailable. I left a message but she did not return my call by close of business. I was not particularly shocked about that.
I also filed a complaint with the County Attorney.
They did not have a clue what to do with this. After jacking me around for 45 minutes, a guy names Guess came out to talk to me. He acted like I was the stupidest person on the face of the planet. Then I received this response:
It must be great to be so important you have assistants to send e-mail on your behalf. Minor thing? Probably but here is the response I provided to the County Attorney.
As of close of business on 4-26-2013, I have received no response to the above. Have no fear, I was not holding my breath on this one either.
Perhaps next week, almost a month after the initial request, someone with integrity will stand up and make the public information available.
The departments I have worked for over the last 40 years usually kept a folder available for the public or media to see on the Sergeant's desk or other readily available location. Perhaps things have changed lately and they may not do that anymore, but when I was an active full-time officer, it was placed in the folder usually with an hour or so of the officer completing the initial report with names, times, locations and the officer's narrative. Never a big deal for the public to look at it.
ReplyDeleteA copy of the Probable Cause Affidavit will be kept by the magistrate who performed the actions mandated under 15.17 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.
ReplyDeleteContact the office of said magistrate and see if they'll honour an FOIA request for the PC Affidavit. Some will, some won't.
@Book'em Dano - All true. Which makes this even more curious.
ReplyDelete@LawDog - There are several magistrates. Don't know who did the arraignment. The other problem is the Judiciary is not subject to the Texas Public Information Act. Also, the police should have, and I believe do have, this information. If they have it, they should make it available.
You can decide for yourself but it looks to me like there are problems bigger than the Police. The city attorney and County Attorney seem to be on board with the police department. If the courts side with TPD, it could get very expensive and that does not bode well for CJ.
The whole episode doesn't exactly pass the smell test. If Grisham was initially arrested for Resisting -- what was original arrest? Walking down a public road in Texas with a rifle? Pfagh. You can read Chapter 46 of the Penal Code until there's grass on the far side of the moon and you'll never be able to twist any part of it to justify an arrest for walking down a public road with a rifle.
ReplyDeleteWhy bust a Resisting down to an Interfering? Either he was resisting, or he wasn't.
Find out the name of the magistrate who did the 15.17, then go by their office and ask for a copy of the PC Affidavit. The worst thing they can do is say, "No" and at best you can walk out with a copy of the PC. It happens.
Have you considered filing an FOIA for the disciplinary record of the arresting officer; for his Use of Forces, and another for any grievances/complaints filed against him? Might be nothing there, might be an interesting read.
Contact TCLEOSE, see if he's worked any other agencies prior to Temple PD and contact them for the same information. Again, may not be anything, may be interesting reading.
> Why bust a Resisting down to an Interfering? Either he was resisting, or he wasn't.
DeleteIn the video, the cop says "for resisting". Almost certainly he meant resisting not the arrest, which he just announced 1 second ago, but resisting his attempt to disarm Grisham. That's what was corrected.
There should be a minimum of three copies of the PC Affidavit, sometimes four. The 15.17 magistrate will have the original, the arresting agency (Temple PD) will have one copy, the holding agency (McLennan CO SO) will have the third copy, and the Court Master/Court Administrator sometimes has a fourth copy.
ReplyDeleteRun a FOIA past the Records Section of McLennan CO Sheriff's Office and see if they'll pull the copy of the PC Affidavit out of Grisham's jail file.
My bad, I assumed that Temple was in McLennan County, when it's actually in Bell County. Sorry about that.
ReplyDeleteReplace "McLennan County SO" above with "Bell County SO".