The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office withheld from the Police Advisory Commission a key document pertaining to the Nizah Morris incident, it was disclosed last week.
In January 2011, the PAC requested from D.A. Seth Williams “any and all 911 tapes, transcripts or other documents or materials that relate in any way to the matter of Nizah Morris.”
Last week, a representative of the D.A.’s Office acknowledged that the office had in its possession since 2008 a seven-page list of Morris-related documentation.
But the office didn’t provide the list to the PAC, despite the PAC’s written request — and a subsequent subpoena — for all Morris-related documentation in the D.A.’s possession.
Morris was a transgender woman of color who was found with a fatal head wound in 2002, minutes after entering a police vehicle for a Center City “courtesy ride.”
The evidentiary list was created by the city Law Department in 2003, in response to a wrongful-death suit filed by Morris’ mother, Roslyn Wilkins.
That suit was settled in its early stages by a $250,000 city payment.
PGN obtained a copy of the list from an alternate source, and gave it to the PAC, after the D.A.’s Office indicated by omission that it didn’t have a copy.
The list shows that dozens of Morris evidentiary items are unaccounted for by police and/or the D.A.’s Office, including comprehensive 911 transmissions.
In 2012, several Morris advocates told the PAC they felt at risk, if so much evidence could be unaccounted for, in a homicide implicating police.
Their concerns contributed to the PAC’s decision in 2013 to recommend state and federal probes of the Morris case.
Last week’s disclosure renews questions as to the extent of Morris-related documentation being withheld by the D.A.’s Office.
In 2012, the D.A.’s Office repeatedly assured the PAC that all of its Morris-related documentation was provided, aside from internal staff memos.
But Morris advocates say the agency may have withheld key 911 transmissions recorded during the time period when Morris was killed.
The 2003 list also itemizes a letter written by the D.A.’s Office pertaining to a vehicle stop by two officers, shortly after their involvement in the Morris “courtesy ride.”
The driver of the vehicle wasn’t a suspect in Morris’ homicide. Yet both officers remained on the vehicle stop, rather than assisting Morris at 16th and Walnut streets, where she was rapidly approaching brain-death.
The D.A.’s Office also failed to provide a copy of its vehicle-stop letter to the PAC.
PGN is currently seeking from the D.A.’s Office complete dispatch records pertaining to the vehicle stop. The paper’s open-records request is pending in Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.
In 2009, PGN gave the D.A.’s Office an incomplete dispatch record for the vehicle stop. The D.A.’s Office also failed to provide a copy of that record to the PAC.
The D.A.’s Office also failed to promptly provide the PAC with a copy of partial 911 transcripts in its possession pertaining to the Morris incident.
Those transcripts were given to the D.A.’s Office by PGN. But they’re missing key transmissions during the time period when Morris was killed.
In 2012, PAC members asked the D.A.’s Office why it didn’t provide the PGN transcripts. The agency replied that it assumed the PAC already had them. But PAC members said that wasn’t a sufficient reason, and reiterated their request for the document.
Babette Josephs, a member of the Justice for Nizah committee, questioned whether the D.A.’s Office cooperated with the PAC in good faith.
She said any missing or withheld Morris evidence increases concern of an official cover-up.
Josephs reiterated the need for an independent probe by state Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane.
“The D.A.’s Office has forfeited its right to be entrusted with the Nizah Morris case,” Josephs told PGN. “PAC members made a wise decision to recommend state and federal probes. Far from working with the community to help solve this crime, the D.A.’s Office has been withholding or losing evidence. Is it any wonder that so many people suspect a cover-up?”