In an attestation filed last week, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office said it doesn’t have any “actual” 911 recordings pertaining to the Nizah Morris incident.
The attestation was filed with the state Office of Open Records, which is reviewing an open-records dispute between the D.A.’s Office and PGN.
The Sept. 30 attestation doesn’t define the term “actual” in relation to Morris 911 recordings, thus it remains unclear what the D.A.’s Office denies having. From other language in the attestation, it’s possible the D.A.’s Office is denying that it has Morris 911 recordings that originated internally at the office.
Typically, 911 recordings originate at the city’s 911 call center, which the D.A.’s Office doesn’t operate.
In November 2015, PGN requested a certified copy of all Morris 911 recordings in the D.A.’s possession.
Morris was a transgender woman found with a fatal head wound in 2002, shortly after a Center City courtesy ride. Her homicide remains unsolved.
In 2008, city officials released dozens of Morris recordings, but the recordings never were certified by Philadelphia police. Some of the recordings appear to have been altered.
In 2009, PGN gave the D.A.’s Office a transcript of dozens of 911 recordings believed to pertain to the Morris incident.
Last year, after PGN requested a certified copy of all Morris 911 recordings, the D.A.’s Office returned a copy of the transcript, but declined to certify any recordings contained in it.
Last week, the D.A.’s Office also submitted an eight-page letter to the OOR, urging the agency to dismiss PGN’s appeal.
The D.A.’s Office cited a 2012 ruling by Judge Idee C. Fox, which denied PGN’s request for Morris 911 recordings assembled by the D.A.’s Office during its 2003 Morris probe.
PGN’s position is that Fox’s ruling is irrelevant because the D.A. has indicated that it doesn’t have any Morris 911 recordings.
In its Sept. 30 attestation, the D.A.’s Office stated that PGN’s requests for Morris 911 recordings over the years have been “disruptive” and an “unreasonable burden” on the agency.
PGN counters that vague and ambiguous filings by the D.A.’s Office have resulted in protracted litigation pertaining to Morris records.
PGN also filed an open-records request with the D.A.’s Office for computer-aided dispatch records pertaining to the Morris incident. That case is pending in Commonwealth Court.
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.