FOIA Case Finds City Did Not Violate FOIA
In Turner v Joliet
Police Department, 2019 IL App (3d) 170819 the court found that the city
did not violate FOIA by exempting police reports concerning the requestor based
on Illinois Supreme Court Rule 415 (c).
Rule 415 (c) governs discovery in certain criminal cases. “Any materials furnished to an attorney
pursuant to these rules shall remain in his exclusive custody and be used only
for the purposes of conducting his side of the case, and shall be subject to
such other terms and conditions as the court may provide.” Notes to the rule state: “If the materials to
be provided were to become, in effect, matters of public availability once they
had been turned over to counsel for the limited purposes which pretrial
disclosures are designed to serve, the administration of criminal justice would
likely be prejudiced. Accordingly, this
paragraph establishes a mandatory requirement in every case that the material
which an attorney receives shall remain in his exclusive custody. While he will undoubtedly have to show it to,
or at least discuss it with others, he is not permitted to furnish them with
copies or let them take it from his office.”
Joliet relied on this rule and FOIA section 7(1)(a) to
deny the requested police report to Mr. Turner, who was the subject of a
pending criminal prosecution. The court
upheld Joliet’s action, along with other exemptions claimed by Joliet. In doing so the court distinguished 2013 Ill.
Att’y Gen. Pub. Access Op. No. 13-017 which held that a party’s right to
discovery does not constitute a FOIA exemption and does not preclude an FOIA
request. The 2013 Public Access Opinion
involved civil litigation not criminal prosecution.
Rule 415 applies where the accused is charged with a
felony. Public police agencies should
consult their attorneys to determine whether Rule 415 and FOIA section 7(1)(a)
may be used to exempt police reports when requested by a criminally accused
requestor.
Post Authored by Steve Mahrt, Ancel Glink
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