Request By:
[NO REQUESTBY IN ORIGINAL]
Opinion
Opinion By: A. B. CHANDLER III, ATTORNEY GENERAL; AMYE L. BENSENHAVER, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL
OPEN RECORDS DECISION
This matter comes to the Attorney General on appeal from an open records request submitted by Gary Hacker to Donald C. Buring, Commonwealth's Attorney for the 16th Judicial District. The requested records are identified as "copies of the series of photographs referred to in the complaint and affidavit of Gary Meadows, and any reports and summaries made by Gary Meadows which pertain to his interviews of Pepi Harnden or Cindi Berry relative to the above mentioned complaint and affidavit."
Donald C. Buring, Commonwealth's Attorney for the 16th Judicial District, denied Mr. Hacker's request on April 15, 1996. Relying on KRS 61.878(1)(h), he explained that records or information compiled and maintained by the Commonwealth's Attorneys pertaining to criminal investigations or criminal litigation are exempted from the provisions of KRS 61.870 to KRS 61.884, and remain exempted after enforcement action, including litigation, is completed or a decision is made to take no action.
We are asked to determine if the Commonwealth's Attorney properly denied Mr. Hacker's request for records. For the reasons set forth below, we conclude that Mr. Buring's response was consistent with the Open Records Act.
KRS 61.878(1)(h) permanently excludes from public inspection:
Records or information compiled or maintained by county attorneys or Commonwealth's attorneys pertaining to criminal investigations or criminal litigation . . . .
Such records are "exempted from the provisions of KRS 61.870 to 61.884 and shall remain exempted after enforcement action, including litigation, is completed or a decision is made to take no action." KRS 61.878(1)(h). Thus, any records pertaining to the complaint and affidavit of Gary Meadows, which are in the Commonwealth's Attorney's possession, are forever exempt pursuant to KRS 61.878 (1)(h). It is the decision of this office that the Commonwealth's Attorney for the 16th Judicial District properly denied Mr. Hacker's request.
A party aggrieved by this decision may appeal it by initiating action in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882. Pursuant to KRS 61.880(3), the Attorney General should be notified of any action in circuit court, but should not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceeding.