Last night’s tweet from WHAS11’s Shay McAlister — announcing that for the “first time ever, we're getting a glimpse inside the Ann Gotlib investigative file the most high-profile case in Louisville's criminal history” — set off a brief Twitter firestorm.
https://www.whas11.com/article/news/investigations/focus/ann-gotlib-inv…
Past and present Courier Journal staff tweeted that this should not be “tout[ed] as an exclusive first look” at the criminal investigation files into the disappearance of the young girl in 1983. The files were released to The Courier Journal several years ago and were the basis for extensive coverage of the abduction, including a multi-part story in 2010.
Unless new records were released, WHAS11’s claim had no basis in fact.
McAlister recounted WHAS11’s three year battle to obtain LMPD’s Gotlib files through the open records law:
“[In 2019] the police department refused to release the records, citing the following reasons through email:
“‘Premature release of these records during the course of an open investigation could result in prejudice to the potential witnesses and has the potential to adversely color a witness’ recollection of the events.’
“In March of 2021, WHAS11 tried again, requesting the complete investigative file for the Ann Gotlib case from LMPD. We received another denial, but this time the police department blamed the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office, writing:
“‘This information is part of a criminal investigation that is still open in which no prosecutorial decision has been made.’
“The words contradicted what had come out of the Commonwealth's Attorney's mouth 13 years earlier when he told a WHAS11 reporter his office would not be moving forward with a case in court because Oakley had died.
“”‘It’s been our policy forever here. We’ve never indicted any dead people,’ Dave Stengel said in a 2008 interview with WHAS11.
“With that interview, WHAS11 turned to the current Commonwealth's Attorney's Office, asking if the case was open despite these words from the former lead prosecutor. A spokesperson from the office confirmed the case was closed and suggested LMPD would be releasing the file.
“In January of 2022, the station won the fight for access three years after WHAS11 started asking for the records. LMPD was forced to hand over seven boxes of evidence - including documents, photographs, VHS tapes and more.”
Notwithstanding prior release of the Gotlib file to The Courier — which was presumably based on the Gotlib case closure and a decision not to prosecute, LMPD resisted WHAS’s open records request — without checking the file or consulting with the Commonwealth’s Attorney — because it is that agency’s default position!
Whatever the journalistic ethics associated with characterizing a story as an exclusive — when all indications are that it is not — there is a major story in Louisville Metro Police Department’s continuing bad faith handling of open records requests submitted by the media and the public — not to mention its deception about the status of the Gotlib case.
The exception relied upon by LMPD, KRS 61.878(1)(h) expressly states that it “shall not be used by the custodian of the records to delay or impede the exercise of rights granted by KRS 61.870 to 61.884 [the Open Records Act].” The courts have repeatedly required a showing of absolute concrete harm to an ongoing investigation from premature disclosure of criminal investigative records — even in an open case.
Try telling that to Louisville Metro Police Department and/or officials who continue to liberally rubber stamp legally unsupportable denials of records request for criminal investigation files on this basis.
