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Judge: Escambia Sheriff’s Office Unlawfully Complied With Public Records Request
August 11, 2012
A judge has ruled that the Escambia County Sheriff’ Office owes a local attorney $425 for his repeated attempts to get public records from the Sheriff’s Office.
Attorney Thomas McGuire submitted a public records request on December 17, 2010, in an attempt to obtain paperwork and audio recordings related to the night in December 2010 that District 5 County Commissioner Kevin White was stopped on suspicion of drunk driving. White was free to go and was never charged with any crime.
The Sheriff’s Office incompletely complied with the public records request in February 2011, and McGuire filed suit in April 2011. In January 2012, according to court records, counsel for the Sheriff’s Office discovered additional documents which were inadvertently omitted from the records provided to McGuire in February 2011.
“Even though the delay was caused by an honest mistake, such ten month delay in providing to Petitioner a complete disclosure of the public records requested constitutes an
unjustified delay, and thus…is considered an unlawful refusal to comply with a public records request,” Circuit Judge Scott Duncan found.
Duncan ordered David Morgan, in his official capacity of Sheriff, to pay McGuire $425 in costs incurred to enforce the public records request.
Comments
14 Responses to “Judge: Escambia Sheriff’s Office Unlawfully Complied With Public Records Request”
Rick does not know what he is talking about. There is no ECSO video of this incident. The Rick/Powell campaign came to an fitting end with yesterday’s election result, as with any enterprise based on falsehoods and deceit. To bigk, citizen, AKA concerned citizen, Ohplease, Smokey, and especially you, Rick —- NICE TRY.
Once agin “in the know” it was on the officers hard drive and was recorded. The cameras are automatically turned on when the emergency lights are activated. Maybe your just trying to clean it up for whoever. Mentioned in the affidavit or not it exists and was part of determining that what the Sheriff said happened did not, the commissioner was not given any field sobriety tests and was allowed to leave with a handshake. Please check your facts sir, mine are not made up and are factual.
Rick, I am sure you know more than McGuire, the attorney who filed the public record request and lawsuit, BUT the Sheriff’s Office has no video of this. Mcguire’s public record request and lawsuit never even refer to a video. Again, the entire clerk’s file is public record, so please enlighten the readers as to where in the clerk’s file there is any mention of a video. Your post would have at least a scintilla of credibility if it were based on ACTUAL facts, instead of IMAGINARY, MADE UP facts.
A complaint was filed against the Sheriff. The complaint is reviewed by a circuit court judge. The judge makes a decision and orders the Sheriff to pay a fine in ‘his OFFICIAL capacity of Sheriff? That seems to me to be a win for other side and a loss for the high sheriff . Just saying…..
Sorry, in the know, but you must not know very much. The video of the stop was produced after a private investigator produced his. The Sheriff’s Office, specifically David Morgan told the media that field sobriety tests were conducted on Commissioner White when in fact they were not, he was allowed to go on his way with a handshake. Only after getting caught making incorrect statements did the video from the Deputies vehicle come into play. While I doubt that this is on the level of David Morgan covering up for a county commissioner it is probably more on the level of Morgan being careless in assuming that it was done when it was not. Morgan has a habit of speaking out of turn on subjects that he knows nothing about and this is a perfect example. Plain and simple he’s just not qualified to be the Sheriff.
I have personal knowledge of this lawsuit – the case number is 2011 CA 000641, and it had nothing to do with a video. McGuire requested Sheriff’s Office recorded audio transmissions and emails. All recordings were provided and ultimately all emails were provided, but a clerk made a mistake in reproducing some of the emails during the initial production. As soon as the mistake was discovered, it was corrected. Although the production was delayed by the mistake, everything that was requested was provided as of February, 2012. The emails were actually a side issue in the case, and the Sheriff prevailed on the primary issue. McGuire agreed to dismiss the suit with prejudice precisely because all records WERE provided. The Judge’s written order makes it very clear that this was an honest mistake. Instead of speculating and finger pointing, check out the clerk’s file – it is a public record.
Nothing is ever Morgan’s fault. Never dispute anything he says or does, don’t dare have a different thought. He has a duty to look at his opponent’s finance report and take it to the grand jury, only after fixing his. He feels no further duty to look at or report any other violations and there are several from other candidates. This man is only looking out for himself and does only what serves his own needs. If you have ever met this man in person you have seen his arrogance first hand and he is about as warm as the artic in the summer. He has no problem talking down to others and sarcasm is easily spoken by him. He has done many things that he criticized his former opponent for. He promised many things that he never delivered. I predict that after this man is gone many unethical and possibly illegal acts that he was behind will come to light
Morgan was all over Mr Powell for his election rule violation. However he tried to hide a video (of a possible DUI) from public record (law violation) and he ignored his buddy Robinson for same election rule violation. He claims to uphold the laws and will punish any statute violation. Sounds like selective enforcement to me sheriff morgan. All I can say is pot and kettle.
Just curious why a lawyer would need a video from a traffic stop not resulting in an arrest. Sure it’s public record, but if there isn’t any legal proceedings involving the stop it just seems odd. Sounds like someone just looking for dirt. Side note, if no arrest was made the video was not turned in as evidence until the disk was full and would probably be rather difficult or at least time consuming to locate.
bewildered, the clerks office has nothing to do with this. As usual, Morgan attempted through a letter to the Judge to say he had no knowledge of this request. Of course, he blamed his employees. When the initial request was made for the tape of the traffic stop, the attorney was told one didn’t exist. But the attorney was smart enough to ask for the information off the hard drive of the camera. Things got a little funny then. It’s taken 10 months to finally get that information after a Judge had made “I didn’t know” Morgan give it up. It’s hard for Mr White to say he wasn’t at a bar and not drinking when he was video taped doing just that. To make matters worse, the traffic stop was taped as well. Will someone tell Morgan that he’s responsible for what ever decision is made coming out of his office. He seems to forget that when issues such as this comes up. I guess he couldn’t remember to make his payment on his knighthood cross because someone forgot to tell him too. Please vote Powell.
What! David Morgans office guilty of unlawfull conduct? Oh my, how will you defend him now? Vote Powell and get rid of this guy. He’s really not good for our county.
Morgan will delay records of a politicians drunk driving allegations but can file charges against Powell for receiving more than 30 contributions over $50? hmmm now who is the dirty one? I will not vote for Morgan along with many more of us Escambians!
This is a top news story? Wow! Why not also identify and sue the file clerk whose job it was to make the copies? Workers compensation/personal injury/divorce lawyers just love it if one piece of paper is missing (or they think it was omitted) from a 200 page personnel file. .
This is a perfect example of David Morgan covering for elected officials or for people he think might win a seat. It might be time to call in Pam Bondi for a complete investigation of what David Morgan and Mr. Eddions is trying to cover up.