Calling All DU Lawyers... Is There A Way An Outside Force... MO Attorney General, U.S. Attorney Gen

[WillyT]

Can indict or arrest whoever is resisting releasing the police report on the Michael Brown shooting ???

And if it has to be a court... can the court be Federal ???

Who can impose penalties for Sunshine Law violations?

Only a court can impose penalties if it finds that the Sunshine Law has been violated, and penalties are assessed only if the violation is found to be knowing or purposeful. A court may also void any action that was taken in violation of the law, but it is at the court's discretion, after considering if it is in the public interest to do so.

And...

Who is subject to the Sunshine Law?

To determine if the Sunshine Law applies to a body, refer to the definition of public governmental body in § 610.010, RSMo, p. 4, which includes, but is not limited to:

public bodies created by state constitution or statutes;

public bodies created by order or ordinance of any political subdivision or district;

judicial entities when operating in an administrative capacity;

public bodies created by executive order, including:

any advisory committee or commission appointed by the governor by executive order;

any department or division of the state;

any department or division of any political subdivision of the state;

any department or division of any county or of any municipal government;

any department or division school district;

any department or division of a special purpose district including but not limited to sewer districts and water districts;

and other subdistricts of any political subdivision;

any other legislative or administrative governmental deliberative body under the direction of three or more elected or appointed members having rulemaking or quasi-judicial power;

and certain committees or advisory boards appointed by any of the above entities. Note: The custodian of records of any public governmental body shall maintain a list of the policy advisory committees described in this section.

Or, a body may qualify as a quasi-governmental body under the Sunshine Law, which is defined in § 610.010(4), RSMo, p. 5, and includes, but is not limited to:

any person, corporation or partnership organized or authorized to do business in this state by the provisions of chapter 352, 353, or 355, RSMo, or an unincorporated association which either:

has as its primary purpose to:

enter into contracts with public governmental bodies; or

engage primarily in activities carried out pursuant to an agreement or agreements with public governmental bodies; or

performs a statutorily-based public function to:

allocate or issue tax credits, tax abatement, public debt, tax-exempt debt, rights of eminent domain; or
contract leaseback agreements on structures whose annualized payments commit public tax revenues.
any association that directly accepts the appropriation of money from a public governmental body, but only to the extent that a meeting, record, or vote relates to such appropriation.

From: http://ago.mo.gov/sunshinelaw/faqs.htm#Q8

[jberryhill]

1. That's a state law

Enforcement of that state law is within the authority of the state, not the feds.

[WillyT]

3. Ok... So Can The Missouri Attorney General Bring A Case To A Missouri Court ???

[jberryhill]

4. Yes, that's the AG's job

And how long do you think that process takes?

[sabrina 1]

5. Federal Law trumps state law. So if there is a Federal law dealing with these issues the state law

can be over ridden.

[jberryhill]

6. Yes, well that wasn't the question

The question was who could enforce the law recited in the OP.

Nobody wants the state law "over ridden", they want it followed.

[sabrina 1]

8. That depends on the state. Texas eg. Regardless, FOIA filings are often successful.

[leftstreet]

2. The MO ACLU has already filed

ACLU Files Sunshine Law Requests To ID Officer Who Shot Michael Brown

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/13/michael-brown-shooting_n_5675660.html

Enforcement would be the court where it was filed

[HooptieWagon]

7. It's hard for them to release a police report...

... that agrees with all the different stories they've told, and trying to coordinate the story with the shooter cop who skipped town. They're still working on it.