Last week, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office said it needed more time to respond to PGN’s open-records request for certified records pertaining to the Nizah Morris incident.
The agency said it will provide more information about PGN’s request by June 29.
Morris was a transgender woman found with a fatal head wound in 2002, shortly after a courtesy ride from Officer Elizabeth Skala. Her homicide remains unsolved.
For reasons not clear in the record, Skala initiated an unrelated vehicle stop while still assigned to handle Morris, who was intoxicated.
Due to the vehicle stop, Skala didn’t respond to Morris after her head injury for about three hours. By that time, Morris was brain-dead.
PGN is seeking certified records for Skala’s vehicle stop from the D.A.’s Office.
In October, the agency gave PGN a dispatch record pertaining to Skala’s vehicle stop. But subsequent affidavits from the agency didn’t clarify whether the record is complete.
A portion that appears to be missing could explain the initial priority level for Skala’s vehicle stop.
If the office agrees to certify the record, more information about the incident’s priority level may become available.
The state’s open-records law allows a requester to seek certified records from an agency. Certification verifies that the agency is providing an accurate copy of the record it possesses.
Babette Josephs, a member of the Justice for Nizah committee, expressed hope that the D.A.’s Office will cooperate with PGN’s request without further delay.
“Delays for no good reason merely increase the suspicion of the public that a cover-up is taking place,” Josephs said.
It’s in the public interest for local authorities to release all of their records pertaining to the Morris incident, she added.
“If government isn’t transparent, if there isn’t trust between law enforcement and the public, if the public has little or no confidence in the police, then none of us is safe,” Josephs said.
Materials withheld by local authorities include the complete Internal Affairs file for the Morris incident, and numerous investigative reports generated by the D.A.’s Office.
“We’re all in this together against the really bad actors,” Josephs noted. “I hope the police and the D.A.’s Office will act appropriately and help citizens understand what happened to Nizah Morris.”