Transparency News 7/16/15
Thursday, July 16, 2015
State and Local Stories
An arrest video of a Henrico County police officer taking a man into custody is raising questions about police conduct as well as the defendant’s right to film a federal building and remain silent. More than 26,000 views have been recorded of the video posted on YouTube that apparently was taken by Kyle David Hammond, 27, who was arrested earlier this month outside of Federal Bureau of Investigation offices in the 1900 block of East Parham Road. Hammond, of the 11600 block of Timberly Waye in Henrico, was arrested July 5, according to court documents, and was released on a summons pending his Aug. 27 trial. Hammond’s video shows that the officer was wearing a body camera, but police declined to comment on what the camera may have captured or whether it was turned on. The video shows a Henrico police officer approaching Hammond, who is across a paved office-complex roadway on a grassy area some 20 yards from the gated entrance to the FBI office. “What are you doing, sir?” the officer, identified as J. Hughson, asks. “What you got in your pocket?”
Times-Dispatch
A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request has been sent to five Winchester officials regarding an alleged use of public time and facilities to engage in the Nov. 3 special election for city commonwealth’s attorney. The request, made by Frederick County resident Darryl Major, asks for copies of regulations and records regarding “electioneering,” or in this case the process of public officials taking part in a local election on the taxpayer’s dime.
Winchester Star
National Stories
Newly unsealed testimony from Ethel Rosenberg’s brother, David Greenglass, minimizes her role in the spying operations of her husband, Julius Rosenberg, furthering public incredulity about her actual guilt and subsequent execution. In the newly released 1950 grand jury testimony, Greenglass said definitively, “I never spoke to my sister about this at all,” when asked about her knowledge of his spying operations, which involved relaying information from Los Alamos laboratories in New Mexico to Julius Rosenberg in New York. The testimony released Wednesday was the result of a court order from May of this year that ordered the release because Greenglass and two others whose testimonies were withheld are now dead.
Politico
Editorials/Columns
A bad ruling has been handed down that will make it much more difficult for the Maryland citizens to find out the extent of misconduct performed by public employees. The court there is nodding to an expectation of privacy that really shouldn't exist in the public sphere and, in doing so, has provided that much more obscuring darkness for badly-behaving cops. The Maryland appeals court has ruled that police departments' internal investigation documents are "personnel files" and thus exempt from public records requests. The decision came in response to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of Taleta Dashiell, who was seeking a copy of documents related to her own sustained complaint against Sgt. John Maiello of the Maryland State Police.
Tech Dirt
