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Office of the Attorney General - State of Texas John Cornyn |
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April 11, 2002 Ms. Mary E. Reveles
OR2002-1657 Dear Ms. Reveles: You have asked whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 161682. The Fort Bend County Constable's Office (the "county") received two requests for the incident report pertaining to the shooting death of Clifford Baxter and "other information relevant to the case including but not limited to: ballistics and/or toxicology reports; the note allegedly written by Mr. Baxter, and photographs and/or videotape taken at the scene." The county states that the report submitted as Exhibit B is the only document responsive to the requests. The county claims that the requested information is excepted from public disclosure under sections 552.101 and 552.108 of the Government Code. We have also received and considered the comments submitted by Eric Hanson, one of the requestors. Gov't Code § 552.304. Section 552.108 of the Government Code states that information held by a law enforcement agency or prosecutor that deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime is excepted from required public disclosure "if release of the information would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime." Gov't Code § 552.108(a)(1). Section 552.108 may be invoked by the proper custodian of information relating to an investigation or prosecution of criminal conduct. Open Records Decision No. 474 at 4-5 (1987). The county has informed this office that the responsive information relates to a pending investigation being conducted by the Sugar Land Police Department. We agree that release of the information at this time would interfere with the ongoing investigation. Therefore, based on the county's representations, the county may withhold the submitted information from disclosure under section 552.108. As we resolve your request under section 552.108, we need not consider you other claimed exception at this time. This letter ruling is limited to the particular records at issue in this request and limited to the facts as presented to us; therefore, this ruling must not be relied upon as a previous determination regarding any other records or any other circumstances. This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For example, governmental bodies are prohibited from asking the attorney general to reconsider this ruling. Gov't Code § 552.301(f). If the governmental body wants to challenge this ruling, the governmental body must appeal by filing suit in Travis County within 30 calendar days. Id. § 552.324(b). In order to get the full benefit of such an appeal, the governmental body must file suit within 10 calendar days. Id. § 552.353(b)(3), (c). If the governmental body does not appeal this ruling and the governmental body does not comply with it, then both the requestor and the attorney general have the right to file suit against the governmental body to enforce this ruling. Id. § 552.321(a). If this ruling requires the governmental body to release all or part of the requested information, the governmental body is responsible for taking the next step. Based on the statute, the attorney general expects that, within 10 calendar days of this ruling, the governmental body will do one of the following three things: 1) release the public records; 2) notify the requestor of the exact day, time, and place that copies of the records will be provided or that the records can be inspected; or 3) notify the requestor of the governmental body's intent to challenge this letter ruling in court. If the governmental body fails to do one of these three things within 10 calendar days of this ruling, then the requestor should report that failure to the attorney general's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at 877/673-6839. The requestor may also file a complaint with the district or county attorney. Id. § 552.3215(e). If this ruling requires or permits the governmental body to withhold all or some of the requested information, the requestor can appeal that decision by suing the governmental body. Id. § 552.321(a); Texas Department of Public Safety v. Gilbreath, 842 S.W.2d 408,411 (Tex. App.--Austin 1992, no writ). Please remember that under the Act the release of information triggers certain procedures for costs and charges to the requestor. If records are released in compliance with this ruling, be sure that all charges for the information are at or below the legal amounts. Questions or complaints about over-charging must be directed to Hadassah Schloss of the Texas Building and Procurement Commission at 512/475-2497. If the governmental body, the requestor, or any other person has questions or comments about this ruling, they may contact our office. We note that a third party may challenge this ruling by filing suit seeking to withhold information from a requestor. Gov't Code § 552.325. Although there is no statutory deadline for contacting us, the attorney general prefers to receive any comments within 10 calendar days of the date of this ruling. Sincerely, Yen-Ha Le
YHL/sdk Ref: ID# 161682 Enc: Submitted documents c: Mr. Eric Hanson
Ms. Sharyl Atkinson
POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |