Well... they either tow the line or...
Posted on 08/29/2014 5:12:23 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A conservative blogger who claims he was told by law enforcement that Michael Brown had a juvenile arrest history has filed a lawsuit seeking to obtain the alleged records.
Brown was fatally shot by police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9 in an incident that sparked weeks of civil unrest in Ferguson, Missouri. Though it’s been confirmed that the black 18-year-old was unarmed, many questions surrounding the shooting remain unanswered.
Charles C. Johnson, a blogger and journalist who recently launched a website called GotNews.com, filed a lawsuit last week seeking Brown’s records from the office of Paul Fox, director of judicial administration for the Circuit Court of St. Louis County. In the lawsuit, Johnson claims he had previously sought the records under Missouri’s 41-year-old “Sunshine Law,” which gives the public the right to request information from the government and says requests for information must be responded to within three business days. Johnson says his request was denied by Fox’s office.
Brown, who turned 18 shortly before he was killed, had no adult criminal record. Juvenile records are strictly guarded under Missouri law, but Johnson argues that the circumstances surrounding Brown’s death have become an object of overwhelming public interest. In a blog post on his website, Johnson wrote that knowing the truth about Brown’s past “will help us gauge the credibility of his parents and family, who have called him a ‘gentle giant.’” He also claimed that he was told by two different St. Louis law-enforcement sources that Brown had a juvenile arrest record, and cited rumors that Brown was the member of a gang.
Charles C. Johnson @ChuckCJohnson
I had two law enforcement contacts who told me
#MichaelBrown had juvenile criminal record. I will be
suing to get the answer. #Ferguson
10:50 AM - 20 Aug 2014
73 Retweets 32 favorites
In an interview with CBS St. Louis Wednesday, attorney Johnathon Burns, who filed the case, said because Brown is deceased, his juvenile documents should revert back into the public sphere. “Missouri common law applies, and under Missouri common law, court records and virtually all other documents are open to the public,” he said.
Since the story of Brown’s death first broke, media depictions of his character have been contentious. On Monday, a New York Times profile describing Brown as “no angel” sparked outrage among readers and prompted criticism from the paper’s public editor, Margaret Sullivan.
Johnson, who recently raised more than $11,000 on GoFundMe for “investigative journalism research,” is not averse to ruffling feathers. He has appeared on Fox News and written for right-leaning sites like the Daily Caller, but he has objected in Twitter posts to being labeled either a “conservative” or a “blogger.” Last month, the Washington Post’s Wonkette blog published a roundup of tweets in which Johnson referred to himself as an “award-winning journalist.”
Read the full legal complaint here.
Because they all think of themselves and those they report on (when they are leftists) as moderate or center of the road.
Any lawyers out there willing to educate us regarding the release of the juvenile records of an individual who’s deceased?
Several years ago some Hollywood actor, don’t recall name, lamented that there was no left wing in America.
Yes, let’s bring out all that is known about The Gentle Giant
Well... they either tow the line or...
Get Breitbart-ed. Yes, I know.
Yes, I did notice that.
“Ever notice....”
Constantly.
Modern journalism is determining what NOT to report to the American people if it could damage the Democrats.
Section 211.321: "Records of juvenile court proceedings as well as all information obtained and social records prepared in the discharge of official duty for the court shall not be open to inspection or their contents disclosed, except by order of the court to persons having a legitimate interest therein..."
Living or dead you have to demonstrate a legitimate interest in the records. I doubt this qualifies.
Interesting.
Living or dead you have to demonstrate a legitimate interest in the records. I doubt this qualifies.
My guess is that the cop's defense lawyers might disagree.
The cop's defense attorneys aren't the ones trying to get the records. But to that case there is a precedent where a woman filed a wrongful death suit against someone who had killed her kid while he was committing a crime. The defense requested the kid's juvenile records and the woman sued to keep them sealed. But a judge ruled that the defense had a legitimate interest in them. So the cop would probably gain access for the same reason. But this guy? Not so much.
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