PGN filed an appeal with the state Office of Open Records this week, asking that it direct the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office to release key records in the Nizah Morris case.
The paper seeks all dispatch records in the D.A.’s possession pertaining to a vehicle stop initiated by Officer Elizabeth Skala during the early-morning hours of Dec. 22, 2002.
Shortly before the vehicle stop, Skala gave Morris a Center City courtesy ride. Minutes after the ride, the transwoman was found with blunt-force trauma to her head.
Skala’s unrelated vehicle stop took place near 13th and Market streets, while she was still assigned to handle Morris, who was extremely inebriated.
It’s believed that dispatch records for the vehicle stop could help explain why Morris’ initial police-tracking numbers were voided at the 911 call center.
Voiding those tracking numbers cleared the way for responding officers to file paperwork that didn’t mention the courtesy ride, or the subsequent assault.
Despite repeated questioning by members of the public, local authorities have never explained why the tracking numbers were voided.
In June, at the suggestion of a Philadelphia judge, PGN filed a Right-to-Know Law request with the D.A.’s office for all dispatch records pertaining to Skala’s vehicle stop.
The paper also requested an attestation of non-existence signed under penalty of perjury, if the D.A.’s Office were to claim it didn’t have any dispatch records for her vehicle stop.
In a July 29 letter, the D.A.’s Office responded that it has a dispatch “report.” But the agency didn’t specify whether the report pertains to Skala’s vehicle stop.
The D.A.’s Office didn’t provide the “report,” nor did it supply an attestation under penalty of perjury that it doesn’t have additional dispatch records pertaining to the vehicle stop.
Additionally, the D.A.’s Office failed to cite legal authority for withholding the “report,” though the state’s Right-to-Know Law requires such a citation.
On Aug. 11, PGN appealed to the state Office of Open Records, asking that it direct the D.A.’s Office to provide all dispatch records for Skala’s vehicle stop — along with an attestation under penalty of perjury that it doesn’t have additional dispatch records for the vehicle stop.
The appeal was pending at presstime.
Melissa B. Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said the dispatch records requested by PGN are presumed to be in the public domain.
“The records requested in this case are presumptively public under the Right-to-Know Law because they document the performance of a government employee in the course of her duties as a public servant and relate to the overall performance of a government agency charged with public safety,” Melewsky said in an email.
In its July 29 response letter, the D.A.’s office also cited the need for “efficiency” in the matter.
But Melewsky said agencies don’t foster efficiency by withholding requested records without citing legal authority to do so.
“The Right-to-Know Law was intended and designed to enable quick and efficient access to public records, and swift decisions on appeal,” she said. “In order for those goals to be met, agencies need to follow the law, including the provisions that require citation to supporting legal authority when they deny access. Failing to do so only causes delay and confusion.”
The Morris homicide remains unsolved. Last year, the city’s Police Advisory Commission recommended state and federal probes of the case, citing an “appalling” local investigation.
Shortly after the PAC’s recommendation, Morris advocates formed the Justice for Nizah committee, which seeks a probe by state Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane.
The next J4N meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Oct. 27 at the William Way LGBT Community Center, 1315 Spruce St.