Rejecting the state’s attempt to keep the content of the tapes confidential, the judge, Eliot D. Prescott of the Superior Court in New Britain, ruled that there was no legal basis to keep the tapes secret and found that their release would help the public assess the response by law enforcement.
“In fact,” Judge Prescott wrote, “public analysis of the recordings may serve to vindicate and support the professionalism and bravery of first responders” on Dec. 14, 2012, the day of the attack.
He ordered that the recordings be released on Dec. 4, giving the state time to appeal the ruling.
Stephen J. Sedensky III, the state’s attorney in Danbury, who fought to keep the tapes private, said he was reviewing the ruling and had not yet decided whether the state would mount a challenge.
Judge Prescott made it clear in his opinion that he wanted the tapes to be made public as soon as possible. “Delaying the release of the audio recordings, particularly where legal justification to keep them confidential is lacking, only serves to fuel speculation about and undermine confidence in our law enforcement officials,” he wrote.
On the day of the Sandy Hook shootings, The Associated Press requested the recordings from the Newtown Police Department. Mr. Sedensky instructed the department to refuse the request because the shooting investigation was in progress.
The A.P. appealed to the state’s Freedom of Information Commission, which ruled in September that the recordings should be made public, in compliance with state law. Mr. Sedensky’s office appealed to the Superior Court for a stay to keep the recordings secret.
The state argued in part that the tapes should be kept confidential because they disclose “information relative to child abuse.”
The fight over the recordings has been one element in a broader struggle over information about the massacre in Newtown. A report on the police investigation of the shooting, released on Monday, had been repeatedly delayed.
The 20 children killed in the attack were not named in the report, and it did not include graphic images from the crime scene. It did offer a wealth of new information about the life of the gunman, Adam Lanza, who also killed his mother and himself that day, as well as previously unknown details about how he carried out the assault.
Judge Prescott noted that he “reluctantly” listened to the recordings and, after his review, challenged the state’s argument that they contain “information relative to child abuse.”
“Although the 911 callers describe, in harrowing and disturbing manner, an emergent criminal event that is taking place in a school location where there obviously are many children, the callers do not describe any particular acts of child abuse,” he wrote.
No children are identified by name, no callers indicate that they can see a child being shot, and the only injury described is that of an educator’s being shot in the foot.
The state also argued that the release of the recordings would “chill” potential users of the 911 system. But Judge Prescott wrote that there was “no factual or legal support for the claim.”
He added, “The court recognizes and is deeply sensitive to the fact that the families and friends of those who died in this tragedy, as well as others in the greater Newtown community, may desire that the 911 audio recordings never be released.”
Given the weakness of the state’s case, he said, that was not possible.
“The question is not if, but when,” he wrote. “Further delaying their release will not ultimately serve to ameliorate the pain the recordings will likely cause to those directly impacted by the shootings.”
Yahoo Local News – New York Times
http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info/?p=17969
via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info
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