A judge last week upheld a state agency’s order that the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office produce certified records relating to the Nizah Morris incident. But additional litigation may be necessary to ensure the records are produced.
Officer Elizabeth Skala gave Morris a “courtesy ride” during the early-morning hours of Dec. 22, 2002. Shortly after the ride, Morris was found by passersby with a fatal head wound. The trans woman’s homicide remains unsolved.
Inexplicably, Skala initiated a traffic stop at 13th and Market streets, though she was still assigned to Morris, who was critically injured and fighting for her life at 16th and Walnut streets.
In August, the state Office of Open Records ordered the D.A. to produce certified dispatch records for Skala’s traffic stop. But the D.A. appealed that order in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.
On June 20, Common Pleas Judge Linda A. Carpenter upheld the OOR order. The judge also ruled that the D.A. certified its records for Skala’s traffic stop in a February 2015 declaration.
The declaration certifies that the D.A.’s only computer-aided dispatch records for Skala’s traffic stop are incomplete and were provided to the D.A. by PGN in 2013.
However, no records accompany the declaration, though it states under penalty of perjury that records are attached.
During oral arguments in April, PGN said the D.A. should produce the records that were supposed to be attached to the declaration. Otherwise, the D.A. hasn’t demonstrated that it’s not withholding records for Skala’s traffic stop.
In a June 24 email, the D.A.’s Office indicated it won’t produce the records referred to in its February 2015 declaration.
“The DAO has reviewed Judge Carpenter’s opinion which clearly states that the DAO cannot certify the authenticity of a document it did not generate and over which it has no legal duty to maintain,” the email states. “The Court opines that the multiple declarations made under penalty of perjury, by the DAO, are sufficient certification under the existing circumstances and, thus, no further certification is required.”
Melissa B. Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, urged the D.A. to produce the records.
“The District Attorney should provide the requested records, as ordered by the Office of the Open Records and affirmed by Judge Carpenter,” Melewsky told PGN. “This has been extremely protracted litigation. And it’s a shame. Right-to-Know Law access should be quick, free and result in some measure of accountability. That has not happened in this case.”