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   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: jaiden@yahoo.com   
      
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   > She screws everything with a dick.  Skanks do that.  Really fucking up your   
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   Uvalde city officials are using a legal loophole and several   
   other broad exemptions in Texas to prevent the release of police   
   records related to last month's mass shooting that left 19   
   children and two teachers dead, according to a letter obtained   
   by NPR in response to public information requests filed by   
   member station Texas Public Radio.   
      
   Since the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School, law   
   enforcement officials have provided little and conflicting   
   information, amid mounting public pressure for transparency. The   
   Texas Department of Public Safety, which is leading the state   
   investigation, previously said that some accounts of the events   
   were preliminary and may change as more witnesses are   
   interviewed.   
      
   The City of Uvalde has hired a private law firm to make its   
   case, which cited the "dead suspect loophole," to deny the   
   release of information because the gunman died in police   
   custody. The legal exception bars the public disclosure of   
   information pertaining to crimes in which no one has been   
   convicted. The Texas Attorney General's Office has ruled that   
   the exception applies when a suspect is dead.   
      
   The maneuver has been used repeatedly by Texas law enforcement   
   agencies to claim they're not required to turn over the   
   requested information because a criminal case is still pending,   
   even though the suspect is dead.   
      
   The loophole was established in the 1990s to protect people who   
   were wrongfully accused or whose cases were dismissed, said   
   Kelley Shannon, executive director of the Freedom of Information   
   Foundation of Texas.   
      
   "It is meant to protect the innocent," Shannon said, but in some   
   cases "it is being used and misused in a way that was never   
   intended."   
      
   In the obtained letter, dated June 16, the city of Uvalde's   
   lawyer asks Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to rule on which   
   public records the city is required to release, a common   
   practice in the state.   
      
   "The City has not voluntarily released any information to a   
   member of the public," Cynthia Trevino, a lawyer for the firm   
   Denton Navarro Rocha Bernal & Zech, wrote to Paxton.   
      
   Among the 148 public records requests Trevino said the city has   
   received, reporters are pressing for the disclosure of body   
   camera footage, 911 calls, criminal records, emails and text   
   messages and other information.   
      
   The city and its police department are arguing against the   
   release of the requested records, citing the following reasons:   
   the city is being sued, some individuals' criminal history   
   records could include "highly embarrassing information"; some of   
   the information could reveal police "methods, techniques, and   
   strategies for preventing and predicting crime," could cause   
   "emotional/mental distress," "is not of legitimate concern to   
   the public," could subject city employees or officers to "a   
   substantial threat of physical harm," and violates individuals'   
   common-law right to privacy. City officials have also refused to   
   release more details, reasoning that it would interfere with the   
   ongoing investigation by the Texas Department of Public Safety,   
   Uvalde County's district attorney and the FBI.   
      
   It's unclear from the lawyer's letter which legal protections   
   are being applied to argue the release of which specific records.   
      
   https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22063160/uv22-001touv22-   
   148-ag00215daybrief4867-6084-58618.pdf   
      
   There is a slew of questions that, if answered, could help   
   prevent another shooting or may provide some closure to victims'   
   families. Among them: Why did it take police over an hour to   
   confront the gunman in the classroom where he was killing   
   children?   
      
   Texas Public Radio's David Martin Davies and The Associated   
   Press contributed to this report.   
      
   https://www.npr.org/2022/06/18/1106017340/uvalde-legal-loophole-   
   mass-shooting-records   
      
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