TheAgitator.com
Head of Mississippi Prosecutors Association Says He’ll Refuse Open Records Request
Thursday, March 6th, 2008Yesterday, I posted on the national and Mississippi Innocence Projects’ open records request, which the organizations sent to all of the state’s district attorneys. They’re for information related to autopsies embattled medical examiner Dr. Steven Hayne has performed in the state crime lab in Jackson.
District Attorney Ben Creekmore, president of the Mississippi Prosecutors Association, said he won’t comply with the request, citing provisions in the state’s Open Records Law that prohibit the release of documents related to criminal enforcement or that contain personal information about victims.
"There are families all across the state of Mississippi who would be affected by the wholesale release of information related to the death of their loved ones," Creekmore said.
Creekmore either hasn’t read the request, or he’s intentionally mistating what it entails. The request specifically allows for the redaction of personal information. It’s not a demand for the "wholesale release of information" on possible victims of crime, it asks only for the names of the people on whom the autopsies were performed, which is certainly public information.
Creekmore’s obstinance isn’t surprising, but it’s also unacceptable. There are now very serious concerns about the quality of Dr. Hayne’s work, raised not just by me and the state and national Innocence Projects, but by Hayne’s peers in the medical profession both in and out of the state, by people who have had to work with him in the state crime lab, by the last two official state medical examiners, by law enforcement officials in the state, and by the professional organizations where Hayne is a member. As an officer of the court and head of Mississippi’s prosecutors’ organization, Creekmore not only shouldn’t be blocking attempts by outside groups to gauge the scope and extent of the damage Hayne has done, he ought to be conducting his own investigation.
I’ve wondered if a tactic to help force the open records requests would be to start making statements to the press that assume the worst case scenario of the records based on the limited evidence organizations already have.
When they start denying the statements, just offer up “We have our evidence, where is yours?”
That’s a recipe for disaster, Lee. It’d ruin the credibility of the groups like the Innocence Project.
MS, challenged with the least educated population in the US?
Seems some of these educated folks running things should read the constitution, especially the second amendment.
Radley,
You’re operating under the assumption that Creekmore wants to fix the system in Mississippi. I don’t have any particular insight into his head but it seems to me that the damage Hayne and West have done in Mississippi’s judicial system (considering the sheer number of bodies they worked on) is enough to end the career of pretty much anyone down there who was in charge while they were throwing around their bogus analysis. Not to mention the fact that this has the potential to bog down the entire Mississippi court system with appeals, which should rightfully scare the hell out of even the best-intentioned court officials. It just seems to me that they’re stalling in the hopes that this issue will eventually go away because it’s going to have some pretty dire consequences.
Obviously, that’s not acceptable and the truth about Hayne and West needs to come out, those responsible for what happened need to be held accountable, and those consequences need to come to pass (catastrophic or not) but I’m just saying that I can see why they’re trying to shoot down the record requests and not do an investigation.
And when I say “that’s not acceptable” I’m obviously referring to the state government’s attempts to hinder the investigation.
Mississippi:
Over in Arkansas, they used to say: Thank GOODNESS for Mississippi!
By way of comparison.
A State of Confusion if there ever was one.
Home of one of the worst hell-whole prisons in America: Parchman State Prison. Determined by a Federal Judge to be “an affront to modern standards of decency”.
Also, home of former RNC Wunderkind Chairman Haley Barbour; Home of Trial Lawyer extraordinaire and Mississippi Attorney Generally Bosum-Ally Dickie Scruggs, who also just happens to be former Senator Trent Lott’s Brother in Law.
When I drive across MS from LA to AL, I make sure I don’t have to stop even once…….and I keep the speedometer exactly on the posted speed limit.
A state best seen leaving in your rear view mirror.
I enjoyed that Whim. Being a Yankee, my speedometer is always on 55 when I cross the Mason-Dixon line going south, especially in Lee County, MS home of Sheriff Jimmie Johnson.