we saw that...: petition for writ of mandamus to enforce an La. R.S. 44:1 et seq public records request....2015©

06 March 2012

petition for writ of mandamus to enforce an La. R.S. 44:1 et seq public records request

now this is one impressively worded petition.

naturally, we're on the side of the plaintiffs, john randolph pierce and darrell wayne glasper, sr. and believe that the east baton rouge parish sheriff's office should turn over all the requested records.

one exception we take to the petition is at paragraph seven (7) where the plaintiffs incorrectly refer to their La. R.S. 44:1 et seq. Public Records Request (PRR) as a Freedom Of Information Act Request (FOIA).

a freedom of information act (foia) request is one made for federal public records. whereas, a public records request (prr) is one made for state and local governmental public records R.S. 44:1A.(1).

if you are an attorney or non-attorney public records requester, blogger, main stream media writer, etc., please properly differentiate between the two - it's important.

flip-flop or louisiana style good ol boy network damage control springs into action

anyway, it should be interesting to see how east baton rouge, parish sheriff, sid j. gautreaux, iii, explains away why his public information officer, casey rayborn hicks, was directly quoted by the baton rouge morning advocate in a news report dated 03 march 2012, "affidavit accuses mayor," (.pdf exhibit "a" page 13):

"We consulted with other agencies which also received the complaint that concurred with our findings and were unable to substantiate the information," Hicks said. "Our investigation is complete pending any new information that would warrant further investigation."

meaning, that the requested documents, (other than the "initial report" (.pdf pages 20 - 22) which is always a public record (R.S. 44:3(4)(a)) and was provided), were now public records per R.S. 44:3A.(1), -- are not public records after all ... due to "the anticipated pending criminal investigation..." .pdf page 18.

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click here to download 22 page .pdf [1.10 mb]

note: this .pdf might open with the documents displaying sideways. depending on how your .pdf reader is configured, you might have to download it to your computer; then from the toolbar click: view; then rotate view; then counterclockwise.