sgusers的部落格

Source: Tulsa World, Okla.文件倉July 24--NORMAN -- Prosecutors aired concerns Tuesday that a recent court decision making police dash-cam videos public could interfere in criminal prosecutions.But the Oklahoma District Attorneys Association voted to take no action on a request that it file a friend of the court brief asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to hear the appeal of the lower court's decision.In May, the Court of Civil Appeals sided with lawyers who sought the dashboard-camera video of the arrest of a client.The request was made to the Claremore Police Department.The lawyers sought the recording under the Oklahoma Open Records Act rather than wait for it to be provided through the criminal discovery process from the prosecuting authority.The Court of Civil Appeals ruled that the video of the client's arrest "constitutes a public record subject to inspection under the Open Records Act."The city of Claremore and its officers appealed the decision and asked the Oklahoma District Attorneys Association to file a brief with the court asking that it hear the appeal.After a similar ruling involving dash-cam video recorded by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the state Legislature exempted the agency from the Open Records Act.Emily Redman, the district attorney for Bryan, Atoka and Coal counties, questioned why law enforcement entities were treated differently under the act.Suzanne McCain Atwood, executive director of the Oklahoma District Attorneys Association, said Janice Stei存倉ley, the district attorney for Rogers, Craig and Mayes counties, opposed intervention on behalf of the association.Steidley could not be present for Tuesday's meeting, Atwood said.Greg Mashburn, the district attorney for Cleveland, Garvin and McClain counties, said allowing the decision to stand would create a "discovery game."If a video is released early, it could wind up on the Internet, create pretrial publicity and affect the jury pool, he said."This is not the way to do it," Mashburn said.Lee Cohlmia, an attorney for the Oklahoma District Attorneys Council, said she believed that the video was evidence and not subject to the Open Records Act.Atwood said the consensus was that the rules for criminal discovery should control the issue, not the Open Records Act.Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said the association should be careful about getting involved because he believed that significant politics were involved between Steidley's office and law enforcement agencies."My concern is that I don't know what we are walking into," he said.Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris noted that if the opinion were allowed to stand, it would be precedent-setting for all criminal cases.Cohlmia said the issue needs to be addressed by the Legislature.Barbara Hoberock 405-528-2465barbara.hoberock@tulsaworld.comCopyright: ___ (c)2013 Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) Visit Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) at www.tulsaworld.com Distributed by MCT Information Services自存倉