Brady List (Santa Clara County)

Dan Rubins filed this request with the Santa Clara County Office of the District Attorney of Santa Clara County, CA.
Status
Rejected

Communications

From: Dan Rubins


To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

In accordance with California Penal Code §832.7 (b)(1), as amended by SB 1421, I am requesting all "Brady lists," "Giglio lists," "potential impeachment disclosure lists," or any similar compiled records or lists of records of the type set forth in California Penal Code §832.7 (b)(1)(C). That is, "Any record relating to an incident in which a sustained finding was made by any law enforcement agency or oversight agency of dishonesty by a peace officer or custodial officer directly relating to the reporting, investigation, or prosecution of a crime, or directly relating to the reporting of, or investigation of misconduct by, another peace officer or custodial officer, including, but not limited to, any sustained finding of perjury, false statements, filing false reports, destruction, falsifying, or concealing of evidence."

In particular, the records I am seeking would provide a list of law enforcement officers in your jurisdiction whose involvement in a criminal proceeding would have to be disclosed as potentially exculpatory evidence in accordance with Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963) and Giglio v. United States, 450 U.S. 150 (1972). I am making this request for both sworn employees and non-sworn employees. At a minimum, please include the full name, serial number, and agency of employment; seperate lists for each agency in your jurisdiction are fine. If possible, please also include the date of inclusion on the list and any descriptive information relating to the reason for inclusion on the list. If redactions are made, please be sure to justify how the redaction "clearly outweighs" the public interest of disclosure per Government Code §6255.

The time limit of this request is the previous 10 years, or to the maximum extent possible under your agency's records retention schedule if less than 10 years. To be clear, while SB 1421 went into effect on January 1, 2019, in accordance with the recent appelate decision in Walnut Creek Police Officers’ Association v. City of Walnut Creek et al. which unsuccessfully challenged retroactivity, your agency is required by law to produce such records created prior to January 1, 2019 as well as those records created after the effective date.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Dan Rubins

From:

Dear Mr. Rubins,

Thank you for your July 4, 2019 CPRA request wherein you request "all "Brady lists," "Giglio lists," "potential impeachment disclosure lists," or any similar compiled records or lists of records of the type set forth in California Penal Code §832.7 (b)(1)(C). That is, "Any record relating to an incident in which a sustained finding was made by any law enforcement agency or oversight agency of dishonesty by a peace officer or custodial officer directly relating to the reporting, investigation, or prosecution of a crime, or directly relating to the reporting of, or investigation of misconduct by, another peace officer or custodial officer, including, but not limited to, any sustained finding of perjury, false statements, filing false reports, destruction, falsifying, or concealing of evidence.""

The records you are seeking are subject to multiple exemptions from disclosure under he CRA. First, any "Brady list," "Giglio list," or similar "potential impeachment disclosure list" is protected under the CPRA's investigative exemption, which shields from disclosure all "investigatory or security files compiled by a ....state or local agency for correctional, law enforcement, or licensing purposes." (Gov. Code § 6254(f).) The reason a law enforcement officer is included on any such list, as well as the very fact or his or her inclusion, "reflects the analysis or conclusions of the investigating officer." (Id.)

Second, any "Brady list," Giglio list," or similar "potential impeachment disclosure list" is exempted from disclosure under the CPRA because it would constitute "official information" that was "acquired in confidence by a public employee in the course of his or her duty and not open, or official disclosed, to the public." (Evid. Code §1040, see also Gov. Code § 6254(k).)

Finally, to the extent your request seeks materials that would reflect "an attorney's impressions, conclusions, opinions, or legal research or theories," those materials are protected from disclosure by the attorney work product protection. (See Civ. Proc. Code §2018.030.)

Thank you.
[Terry_Harman]
Terry Lynn Harman
Assistant District Attorney
Santa Clara County
70 West Hedding Street
San Jose, CA 95110
408.792.2826

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