For Sarah Teague there is at last a small measure of justice -- in the form of a monetary "award" imposed by the courts -- but still no peace.
Sarah learned yesterday that the Kentucky State Police would not petition the Kentucky Supreme Court for review of opinions of the Franklin Circuit Court and the Kentucky Court of Appeals. Both courts found that the agency violated the open records law -- and awarded fees and penalties â based on KSP's refusal to provide her with a copy of a 911 tape she was twice permitted to hear as a purported gesture of compassion.
Discrepancies in the tapes she heard during the first and second "inspection" led Sarah to submit an open records request for copies of the tapes in 2016. Inexplicably, KSP resisted disclosure and Sarah appealed.
Sarah's daughter, Heather, was abducted from a local beach in Henderson County in August 1995. That crime has never been solved. You can find a video link to Heather and Sarah's story at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHwZdfG5ZOk&feature=share
Sarah commenced an epic open records battle with KSP not long after Heather's abduction. That battle yielded little more than frustration. A Madisonville attorney, Chip Adams, agreed to assist Sarah pro bono. He, too, expended many hours researching, briefing, and advocating in court for her right to copies of the tapes.
They had little success until they reached the Franklin Circuit Court.
.
On November 1, 2017, Judge Phillip Shepherd rejected KSP's argument that the speculative harm to prospective prosecution in the then 22 year old case was sufficient to overcome Sarah's right to copies of the tapes. Judge Shepherd characterized KSP's concerns as "incredibly vague, speculative, and extremely remote based on the underlying facts of the open records request." He concluded that KSP "failed to meet its burden to articulate to this Court specific, concrete reasons for withholding the documents in question, other than a reference to an 'ongoing investigation'—an investigation that this Court notes has been in an 'ongoing' status for over 22 years."
Penalties and fees totaling $25,000, which Judge Shepherd later awarded Sarah and Chip for KSP's willful nondisclosure of the tapes, were insignificant when compared to typical open records penalties/fee disputes.
KSP nevertheless appealed.
The Court of Appeals affirmed the Franklin Circuit Court on the penalties/fees issue. In February 2019, the court rejected KSP's claim of "good faith" in denying her request, declaring that the claim "is belied by the long and tortuous route she was forced to pursue in order to obtain relief in the Franklin Circuit Court."
On April 15, Sarah and Chip learned that KSP would not petition the Supreme Court for review of the Court of Appeals' ruling, its last remaining avenue of appeal. The check, as they say, was in the mail.
Perhaps word came down to KSP from the state's chief executive who — in response to the question why he vetoed the pension relief bill rather than battle it out in court— recently answered with a question, "Do you know what the cost is of being hung up in court for years?" The simple answer is: significantly more than $25,000.
Delayed discretion is, in this case, the better part of valor. But the "award" is no substitute for the peace Sarah still seeks.
(Note: This is a re-post of an earlier post. Technical errors have been corrected.)
