Brady List (Ventura County)
| Submitted | July 4, 2019 |
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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:
Mr. Rubins,
I have received your PRA request, dated July 4, 2019 regarding Brady Lists. Chief Deputy District Attorney Chuck Hughes responds to all of our Public Records requests. He is away at a conference and I am requesting a response date of July 19, 2019.
Please let me know if that will be acceptable to you.
Thank you,
Cynthia Troutman
Ventura County District Attorney's Office
Legal Management Assistant
800 S. Victoria Avenue, Suite 314
Ventura, CA 93009
(805) 654-2354
From: Dan Rubins
Ms. Troutman,
Thank you for your timely acknowledgment. July 19th is perfectly acceptable.
Sincerely,
Dan Rubins
From:
Dear Mr. Rubins,
Attached is the Ventura County District Attorney's Office's response to your California Public Records Act request dated July 4, 2019.
If you would like to discuss this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thanks,
Chuck
[cid:image001.jpg@01D53894.7AAF4600]
Chuck Hughes
Chief Deputy District Attorney
Ventura County District Attorney's Office
800 S. Victoria Avenue
Ventura, California 93009
(805) 654-2719
From:
From: Hughes, Chuck
Sent: Friday, July 12, 2019 9:31 AM
To: requests@muckrock.com
Subject: Public Records Act Request
Dear Mr. Rubins,
Attached is the Ventura County District Attorney's Office's response to your California Public Records Act request dated July 4, 2019.
If you would like to discuss this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thanks,
Chuck
[cid:image001.jpg@01D53894.7AAF4600]
Chuck Hughes
Chief Deputy District Attorney
Ventura County District Attorney's Office
800 S. Victoria Avenue
Ventura, California 93009
(805) 654-2719
From: Dan Rubins
Chuck,
Thanks for your prompt and detailed response. I can't say that I would agree with a broad application of the exemptions you mention in light of SB 1421 and the constitutionalization of transparency in the Sunshine Amendment. However, I certainly understand the balance of privacy and transparency and expect some necessary, though limited, redactions. Since the injunction and trial court ruling are both for records created prior to January 1, would it be possible to conduct a search for records created after that date?
Sincerely,
Dan Rubins
From: Ventura County District Attorney
Hi Dan,
I should have been clearer in my response about post-January 1, 2019, matters. There has been no qualifying sustained finding of misconduct occurring after January 1, 2019, related to peace officers employed by the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office. Similarly, I have not received a qualifying Brady notification from an external law enforcement agency in 2019, though you might contact the agencies to ensure they do not have such information.
To explain our process, when there is potential Brady information in a peace officer’s personnel file at other Ventura County-based law enforcement agencies, the agency notifies us that potential Brady information exists. However, we are not privy to whether the misconduct falls within sections 832.7 and 832.8. We then file a Pitchess motion asking a judge to review the officer’s personnel file in camera. If the court finds there is Brady information to be discovered, it is released to us subject to a protective order prohibiting us from disseminating the information or using it for any purpose other than the case in which we filed the motion. As a result, I do not have the information you request as to other Ventura County-based law enforcement agencies or I am prohibited by court order from providing it to you.
I hope this clarifies my earlier response. Eventually the appellate courts will resolve the issue of retroactivity. When that happens, if the courts rule the statutes apply pre-January 1, 2019, please resubmit your request and we’ll provide what we can. Please let me know if I have not addressed your concerns and I’ll be happy to discuss the matter with you.
Thanks,
Chuck
[cid:image001.jpg@01D53C7C.E73C7D10]
Chuck Hughes
Chief Deputy District Attorney
Ventura County District Attorney’s Office
800 S. Victoria Avenue
Ventura, California 93009
(805) 654-2719
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image001
From: Dan Rubins
Chuck,
Thanks so much for the follow-up, I have a much better handle on the process now. I'll likely request records from the employing agencies, but I think this concludes my request to the DA's office. I really appreciate your help in this matter, and the work your office does for the people of our state.
Sincerely,
Dan Rubins
From: Ventura County District Attorney
Thanks, Dan. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance. I appreciate your kind comments.
Chuck
From: Ventura County District Attorney
The request has been rejected, with the agency stating that the information or document(s) requested are exempt from disclosure.
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