Mediation has ended in PGN’s open-records request for a certified copy of all 911 recordings pertaining to the Nizah Morris incident from the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office.
The mediation process, which began late last year, was unsuccessful. PGN’s request now moves to a final determination by the state Office of Open Records.
Both sides have until Sept. 30 to submit materials to the OOR. A final determination is expected by Oct. 17.
Morris was a trans woman found with a fatal head wound in 2002, shortly after a Center City “courtesy ride” from Philadelphia police. Her homicide remains unsolved.
The paperwork of responding officers indicates that Morris wasn’t spotted by police until she was in the Ninth Police District, west of Broad Street. Thus, the officers avoided documenting the “courtesy ride,” which originated in the Sixth Police district, east of Broad Street.
However, 911 recordings obtained by PGN clearly show that Officer Elizabeth Skala initially spotted Morris in the Sixth District and told a dispatcher she would transport Morris to the Ninth District.
PGN supplied these recordings to the D.A.’s Office in 2009. The D.A.’s Office provided a copy of the recordings to PGN in response to its pending open-records request, but declined to certify them.
PGN’s position is that the D.A. is required by law to certify all responsive records in its possession, or clearly state that it’s unable to identify Morris 911 recordings.
PGN also has an open-records request with the D.A.’s Office for a certified copy of its computer-aided dispatch records pertaining to the Morris case. That request is pending in Commonwealth Court.
In both pending requests, PGN seeks certified copies of all responsive records, to ensure the records provided by the D.A. are done so on the basis of “actual knowledge.”
The state Right-to-Know Law allows a requester to obtain certified copies of agency records, if no exemption is invoked by the agency.
In 2013, after a 10-year review, the city’s Police Advisory Commission took an unprecedented step of recommending state and federal probes of the Morris case. But so far, no state or federal agency appears to be investigating the case.