The city’s Police Advisory Commission has reached an agreement with the District Attorney’s office and is preparing to review additional records in the Nizah Morris case, PAC members said last week.
To review the records — which is set to take place early next month — PAC members were required to pledge adherence to a non-disclosure agreement limiting their ability to publicly discuss the records, they said.
“This agreement is a very workable compromise,” said PAC executive director William M. Johnson. “We won’t know the extent of its value until we go in and actually look at the records.”
Morris, 47, was a transgender woman found with a head wound shortly after receiving a courtesy ride from Philadelphia police during the early-morning hours of Dec. 22, 2002.
She died two days later from complications due to a fractured skull.
PAC’s agreement with the DA’s office doesn’t specify what records will be shown, though Johnson said it’s expected members will be shown information related to cell-phone conversations among three officers who responded to Morris that morning.
“There are things we need to see, and we expect them to be there, including the cell-phone records,” Johnson said.
Johnson said an earlier non-disclosure agreement offered by the DA’s office was rejected because it could have been construed to prohibit the PAC from discussing anything about the case.
“We needed to adjust the language because we didn’t want a total gag order,” he said.
Johnson also noted that the revised non-disclosure agreement reserves the right of PAC members to obtain additional Morris records from the DA’s office through future litigation.
In August, the PAC subpoenaed additional Morris records from the DA’s office, but the office declined to honor the subpoena. Instead, the DA’s office offered a visual review of some additional documents, with no photocopies allowed.
“We’re not relinquishing any of our rights to pursue our subpoena in Common Pleas Court, if that becomes necessary,” Johnson added.
Cathie Abookire, a spokesperson for DA Lynne Abraham, had no comment for this story.
Officers Elizabeth DiDonato, Thomas Berry and Kenneth Novak responded to Morris on the morning of her head injury. They haven’t been charged with any criminal wrongdoing by the DA’s office.
But PAC members are exploring whether the officers engaged in police misconduct. They’ve noted several irregularities in the case, which wouldn’t necessarily rise to the level of criminality, they said.
For instance, the officers didn’t tell dispatchers that civilian calls for help about Morris made from three different locations — Juniper and Chancellor streets, 16th and Walnut and Jefferson Hospital — all referred to the same person.
According to departmental guidelines, dispatchers are supposed to be informed when multiple calls from different locations refer to the same person.
Also, the officers’ paperwork depicted Morris simply as a drunk person who fell and “cut” her head, though medical personnel at Jefferson Hospital suspected that she was an assault victim.
The officers’ paperwork failed to mention that Morris suffered massive cerebral bleeding, and that Morris was brain dead when the officers visited her at the hospital.
Perhaps most importantly, PAC members have questioned why the officers didn’t document the medic cancellation and subsequent ride given to Morris, and why they didn’t summon a supervisor to the post-injury scenes to help assess the situation.
After Morris was pronounced dead on the evening of Dec. 24, 2002, the city’s medical examiner’s office promptly ruled the case a homicide, noting that her injuries couldn’t have been caused by a simple fall.
Abraham is scheduled to retire in January, and some advocates for Morris are urging the candidates who are vying to replace her to open the Morris files.
Johnson said the PAC is sympathetic to those efforts.
“We wouldn’t have a problem with any future DA releasing the Morris records to members of the public,” he said. “We understand the desire for transparency. But in this case, we can’t be transparent if we want to get our hands on the additional documents. Then, at least we can see them and know what we’re fighting for if, in fact, a legal fight has to be continued.”
Kathleen R. Padilla, a local LGBT activist, attended an April 15 PAC meeting about the Morris case and expressed mixed feelings.
“I hope these additional records that the PAC accesses will allow it to fulfill its mission in this case,” Padilla said. “I also hope that the people who are running for office to replace DA Abraham will be committed to having transparency for these records.”
Tim Cwiek can be reached at (215) 625-8501 ext. 208.