The Tennessean Archives - Page 5 of 6 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

9 Apr, 2014

Coalition asks appeals court to affirm records ruling in Vanderbilt rape case
Gallery
Coalition asks appeals court to affirm records ruling in Vanderbilt rape case

crime records, public records lawsuits Tennessee

Coalition asks appeals court to affirm records ruling in Vanderbilt rape case

By Deborah Fisher|2014-04-10T06:47:34-05:00April 9, 2014|Categories: crime records, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: crime records, litigation, Robb Harvey, The Tennessean, Vanderbilt rape case|0 Comments

The Tennessean and a coalition of others have asked the Court of Appeals to affirm a recent trial court's ruling that found no "blanket" exemption to the Tennessee Public Records Act for crime records during a pending criminal case. The open records lawsuit against Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County started with a public records request by The Tennessean that included text messages received or sent by third party sources in the Vanderbilt rape case. Metro Government denied those records, citing Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 16(a)(2), which bars discovery of certain law enforcement material during an active criminal prosecution. The Tennessean was joined in the petition by 10 other media [...]

23 Mar, 2014

The Tennessean takes on secrecy of execution drugs

By Deborah Fisher|2014-05-02T06:46:57-05:00March 23, 2014|Categories: execution drugs, exemptions|Tags: Claudia Bonnyman, execution drugs, legislature, Open Records Act exemptions, The Tennessean|0 Comments

The Tennessean exposes the secrecy of execution drugs in a front-page story in today's Sunday edition. State lawmakers last year passed an exemption to the Tennessee Open Records Act that allows the state to keep confidential the name of its supplier of drugs for lethal injections. With that decision, it joined other states who have marched toward similar confidentiality, driven to that secrecy because drug manufacturers have refused to supply states on moral grounds. Finding less obvious sources meant the states had to agree to keep new suppliers secret. The secrecy of the drug source has been questioned on First Amendment grounds in at least three other states. Defense lawyers challenged [...]

13 Mar, 2014

Read Judge Russell Perkins’ ruling in Vanderbilt rape case

By Deborah Fisher|2018-08-06T08:52:38-05:00March 13, 2014|Categories: crime records, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: Chancellor Russell Perkins, crime records, law enforcement privilege, The Tennessean, Vanderbilt rape case|1 Comment

Davidson County Chancellor Russell T. Perkins ruled Wednesday that some records in the police file in the Vanderbilt rape case are subject to the Tennessee Public Records Act, including text messages and emails recovered from witnesses or criminal defendants. The ruling rejected an adoption of a law enforcement privilege for pending criminal cases, and said in a footnote that "The Court concludes these text messages are not witness statements that can be shielded from disclosure. Instead, these text messages are memorializations of conduct related to the alleged crime and the alleged cover up." Excerpt: "Taking a case-by-case view as a trial court, the Court concludes that exempting all the records [...]

13 Mar, 2014

The Tennessean: Judge rules some Vanderbilt rape case records are open

By Deborah Fisher|2018-08-06T08:56:31-05:00March 13, 2014|Categories: crime records, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: Chancellor Russell Perkins, crime records, open records, The Tennessean, Vanderbilt rape case|0 Comments

This story about the Vanderbilt rape case, written by Tony Gonzalez, was published by The Tennessean on March 12, 2014 and reprinted here with permission. Some records in a high-profile Vanderbilt University rape case should be made available under the Public Records Act, a Davidson County Chancery Court judge ruled Wednesday in response to The Tennessean’s lawsuit against Metro government over access to information. In an 18-page order, Chancellor Russell Perkins ruled that some text messages, emails by witnesses and defendants, and other records given to police by the university were public documents and should be given to a media coalition that sued for access. But those records won’t immediately be provided to [...]

12 Feb, 2014

Tennessean editorial asks “Sexual assault privacy bill: protecting victims or those in power?”

By Deborah Fisher|2014-04-09T16:48:42-05:00February 12, 2014|Categories: crime records, exemptions|Tags: crime records, legislature, Open Records Act exemptions, sexual assault records, The Tennessean|0 Comments

The Tennessean publishes an editorial against proposed legislation that exempts parts of sexual assault crime records from the public records law. The editorial is reprinted here with permission: State legislation backed by Metro Nashville, supposedly to protect the privacy of victims of sexual assault, has many implications for our state, but helping rape victims is not among them. Senate Bill 2254 is first and foremost an attempt to intimidate news media organizations throughout Tennessee, as they pursue a lawsuit against Metro over its refusal to release records in the rape investigation involving former Vanderbilt University football players. The Tennessean is among the news organizations that filed the suit last week. But [...]