State Records Committee Appeal 02-09

BEFORE THE STATE RECORDS COMMITTEE OF THE STATE OF UTAH

ALBERT CRAMER, Appellant, vs.

MURRAY CITY, Appellee.

Case No. 02-09

DECISION AND ORDER

By this appeal, inmate Albert Cramer seeks an order an order compelling Appellee, Murray City (the "City"), to provide various child witness interview transcripts, police department policies and other documents he believes pertained to his criminal cases.

The State Records Committee, having reviewed the written materials submitted by the parties, and having heard testimony and argument on August 14, 2002, now issues the following Decision and Order.

STATEMENT OF REASONS FOR DECISION

1. Mr. Cramer's appeal is denied. The Committee is persuaded that City was correct in classifying the August 1997 transcripts of interviews by Detective Alex Huggard with a minor, regarding sexual child abuse, as private under Utah Code Ann. Sec. 63-2-302(2)(d) and protected under Secs. 63-2-304(9) and (10). To the extent that these documents were relevant to his criminal cases, Mr. Cramer was entitled to use the discovery process and the Rules of Criminal Procedure to obtain these documents through the court for his defense. See Utah Code Ann. Secs. 63-2-202(7), -201(3) and -201(5)(a).

2. As to Mr. Cramer's other requests, the Committee finds as follows: (a) the City has no transcripts of the requested July 1997 interviews; (b) the City has no records regarding contacts by City employees to the media; (c) the City has no specific written policy about interviewing children; (d) the City has no specific written policy about an officer investigating outside the officer's jurisdiction; and (e) the City has no record of an agreement between it and the Utah Division of Child and Family Services regarding Cramer.

ORDER

WHEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED THAT Appellant's appeal is denied and Murray City's decision is affirmed.

RIGHT TO APPEAL

Either party may appeal this Decision and Order to the district court. The petition for review must be filed no later than thirty (30) days after the date of this order. The petition for judicial review must be a complaint. The complaint and the appeals process are governed by the Utah Rules of Civil Procedure and by Utah Code Ann. Secs. 63-2-404. The court is required to make its decision de novo. In order to protect its rights on appeal, a party may wish to seek advice from an attorney.⁽¹⁾

Entered this 19th day of August, 2002.

BY THE STATE RECORDS COMMITTEE

Cherie Willis, Chairperson
State Records Committee

Footnotes

1. This notice is required by Utah Code Ann. Sec. 63-2-403(12)(d).