Utah high court orders sheriff's office to release disciplinary records

By The Associated Press

07.25.02

Printer-friendly page

SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office must reveal some disciplinary records in the case of a deputy who was fired for alleged improper use of his weapon and making sexual innuendoes, the Utah Supreme Court ruled this week.

Former deputy Brent Young, fired in January 2000, wanted access to disciplinary records from other Salt Lake County Sheriff's Department employees who had been accused of similar offenses.

Sheriff Aaron Kennard refused to let Young or his attorney see the records, saying laws designed to protect workers' privacy prohibited it.

The Utah Supreme Court on July 23 ruled unanimously that the state's open-records law gives Young the right to see at least some of those documents.

A lower court had said Young gets to see documents from every case where a deputy was accused of improper weapon use and sexual misconduct, but the high court ruling says the law restricts which records Young will get to see.

Young will get access to the records only in cases where the accused deputy has appealed the disciplinary action or given permission to release the documents.

Those are the conditions spelled out in state law, according to the opinion, written by Justice Michael J. Wilkins. Names will be blacked out in the documents Young gets to see.

It's unclear how many cases are involved, and court documents didn't spell out details of the incident that led to Young's firing.

A sheriff's office spokeswoman referred questions to the department's legal counsel, Valerie Wilde, who didn't return messages from the Associated Press. Young's attorney, Blake Nakamura, didn't return a message.

Attorneys for the sheriff's department argued that Young waited too long to file his appeal and that the court didn't have jurisdiction over the sheriff's decision to fire Young.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Government Records Access and Management Act does give the court authority to order the release of the records, and Young's court claim was filed according to the rules.

Related

Police disciplinary records must be disclosed
Kentucky appeals panel rules officer tried to twist state Open Records Law in arguing against releasing documents.  11.19.01