THE PLAIN DEALER
Hiding In Plain Sight
Ohio Supreme Court's decision to let a bad ruling stand keeps public records out of reach of those who need them most
Saturday, February 10, 2007
When someone's life is on the line, the state shouldn't be able to squirrel away any secrets.
And yet that is exactly what the Ohio Supreme Court does when it allows prosecutors to duck behind the 1994 Steckman decision. That troubling ruling denies some defendants the right to use public records requests to get interrogation transcripts, witness reports and other information about their case.
That's true even if you're a death row inmate facing a gurney and a deadly needle. Yet any ordinary citizen can submit a public records request to the county prosecutors and obtain the same material.
A prime example of how application of the Steckman decision can go wrong is the case of Tyrone Noling, sentenced to death in 1996 in the killing of a Portage County couple.
Now, as reported by The Plain Dealer's Andrea Simakis, Noling is fighting for a new trial based on information in prosecutors' records that indicates police knew of two other possible suspects. Noling's lawyers received the records because The Plain Dealer posted them on its Internet site. That's too circuitous of a route when life and liberty hang in the balance.
None of that seems to matter to Ohio's Supreme Court justices, who have not adequately explained their rationale for approving Steckman in 1994. Indeed, logistics seemed more of interest than pertinent questions of fairness.
Former Justice Andy Douglas, who wrote the majority opinion, said the criminal justice system was bombarded by public requests from inmates. And the current justices were equally skittish recently about their vote to retain Steckman in December. Only Justice Paul Pfeifer, who was one of two justices who voted against Steckman, disclosed his vote.
Both the decision and the court's failure to disclose the votes are troubling. It doesn't take a law degree to see that state prosecutors shouldn't be allowed to hide information that could raise reasonable doubts about a defendant's guilt. The General Assembly should rewrite public records law to overturn this troubling decision.
Used with permission
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