August 17, 2010

Ms. Katie Lentz

Open Records

Williamson County Sheriff's Office

508 South Rock Street

Georgetown, Texas 78626

OR2010-12457

Dear Ms. Lentz:

You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Public Information Act (the "Act"), chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 390754.

The Williamson County Sheriff's Office (the "sheriff") received a request for information pertaining to a specified incident. ⁽¹⁾ You claim that a portion of the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. Section 552.101 encompasses the common-law right of privacy, which protects information if it (1) contains highly intimate or embarrassing facts, the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person, and (2) is not of legitimate concern to the public. Indus. Found. v. Tex. Indus. Accident Bd., 540 S.W.2d 668, 685 (Tex. 1976). To demonstrate the applicability of common-law privacy, both prongs of this test must be established. Id. at 681-82. This office has found a compilation of an individual's criminal history is highly embarrassing information, the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person. Cf. United States Dep't of Justice v. Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press, 489 U.S. 749, 764 (1989) (when considering prong regarding individual's privacy interest, court recognized distinction between public records found in courthouse files and local police stations and compiled summary of information and noted that individual has significant privacy interest in compilation of one's criminal history). Furthermore, we find a compilation of a private citizen's criminal history is generally not of legitimate concern to the public. In this instance, we agree the information you have marked is highly intimate or embarrassing and of no legitimate public interest. Therefore, the sheriff must withhold this information under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with common-law privacy. As you raise no further exceptions to disclosure, the remaining responsive information must be released.

This letter ruling is limited to the particular information 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 information or any other circumstances.

This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For more information concerning those rights and responsibilities, please visit our website at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/open/index_orl.php, or call the Office of the Attorney General's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at (877) 673-6839. Questions concerning the allowable charges for providing public information under the Act must be directed to the Cost Rules Administrator of the Office of the Attorney General, toll free, at (888) 672-6787.

Sincerely,

James McGuire

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JM/dls

Ref: ID# 390754

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We note the requestor excluded social security numbers and Texas driver's license, license plate, and vehicle identification numbers from her request. Thus, those types of information are not responsive to this request for information, and this decision does not address their public availability.

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