|
|
|
|
: 3/2 large brick home, with large shop on 1 ac corner lot. $259,900. See pics @ or 576-4069.
The district attorney’s office had challenged a Texas attorney general’s ruling, which said the reports were public record. But lawyers from both sides worked out an agreement before the 2 p.m. hearing in the 419th Judicial Civil District Court in Austin.
The district attorney’s office agreed to release the papers without charge by Friday.
“We reviewed our position and felt like it was the proper thing to do,” said Michael Kelly, who represented the district attorney.
The dispute started when the Advocate public service editor, Gabe Semenza, made an open-records request on Aug. 10. Semenza asked for “all disposition reports that you, Steve Tyler, have provided the Victoria Police Department and Victoria County Sheriff’s Office – including handwritten and other related comments – regarding all cases kicked back to the departments from January 2007 to present.”
Semenza requested the information while reporting on the rift between the district attorney’s office and local law enforcement. Police contended the DA was improperly rejecting its cases.
Tyler’s office sent Semenza’s request to the attorney general’s office. If an agency isn’t sure whether records are public, it can ask the attorney general’s opinion, said Laura Lee Prather, who represents the Advocate.
“What they failed to do is provide a sampling of what they wanted to remain confidential,”attorney general spokesman Tom Kelley said. “We didn’t have anything to rule on.”
Without that sampling – which should include copies of the disposition reports – the attorney general assumes the information is public, Kelley said.
Kelley estimated that about half of 1 percent of the attorney general’s open-records rulings are challenged.
“We generally deliberate those seriously to make the right decision,” Kelley said.
As part of Monday’s deal, Brenda Loudermilk, chief of the open records litigation section, agreed to waive any court fees she might ask the district attorney’s office to pay.
The attorney general can ask the court to charge attorney and court fees to agencies that challenge its decisions, Prather said.
The district attorney’s office also agreed that it wouldn’t charge the Advocate for finding or copying the reports.
Judge Orlinda Naranjo OK’d the lawyer’s decision in less than 10 minutes Monday.
Leslie Wilber is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6521 or lwilber@vicad.com or comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.