No, I should have clarified. There is an "alleged" murderer awaiting trial in Oregon who I was referring to. But, I appreciate your explanation. Florida is unique! I think our guy in Oregon awaiting trial has a much better deal than KC does (because his jailhouse/family/conversations are not in the media). It seems more fair to me. But, "Sunshine" is the law in Florida--(Lyons must be beside herself trying to make Florida conform to the rest of the US!)
I may be wrong here, as I have really only worked cases in Virginia but I believe, actually Oregon must be unique! I have not gone and looked up Orgeon's laws on this and would have to at a later time, but I have tried to explain this with some other cases that we have been looking into but there hasn't been one to explain it yet. Huckabee has everything sealed and gagged up and there is no defendant yet with Haleigh.
The reason that you can always hear a 911 call in pretty much any case is because 911 calls are public record. My understanding is that Florida is unique in that they specifically write their Sunshine Laws to include the media? Please correct if I am wrong, I live in VA. However, if you think all this paperwork that we have been getting in Discovery (Doc Dumps) is fascinating just in this case, you couldn't be more wrong. These types of things are released to the public in ALL cases, at least here in VA and in FL. I can't really think of any state where discovery isn't public record, as are trial transcripts. Once Misty C has been arrested, (sorry had to, moo
) and lawyered up (court appointed most likely), and discovery has been handed over to the defense and filed with the State, someone could go down and get that Discovery like dear Muzikman does for us.
blowkiss: @ Muzikman) Someone could go down to the court house and get all of the info on the Huckabee case once that is all over with and she has had her trial and the seals are all lifted (might not every happen on autopsy, however the info on the injuries and such will most likely be in the trial transcripts
)
This could be done in pretty much every state that I know of. Anything that is public record is available for any tax paying citizen of that state or commonwealth. Once the trial is over you can go down and get the trial transcripts if you want. Often times these things are not done, not only by media but every day citizens alike because of the expense. Some states are allowed to charge as much as a dollar a page, even if given on disc!
Also, there is not a state that I know of that does not record, both video and especially audio every visit and ever phone call. Those calls are used A LOT in court. Anything that can be used in court is public record. You would have to go down and requests the videos of the prisoner (Like I said, Maybe not in Oregon, maybe they are different there) and pay the "reasonable fee" under the law for obtaining the item and then you walk away with it. Post it on the net if you want, give it to the media, whatever. Bring it to your friends here at WS! Hint, hint,
Think how great it would be if we could get all of this kind of info on every case! Perhaps this case will cause other news outlets to pay more in depth attention to other cases like they have this one. Now that the public knows what discovery is and how much good stuff is in there they can help make the WS members job/hobby easier! NOTE: I am not asking anyone to do this, and would never expect anyone to do so if they could not afford it. Just mentioning how nice it would be if we had the info or other news stations did this in other cases so that the public didn't have to put out the big bucks it sometimes costs to get all the papers.
I also believe that this is helping to educate the public on how the criminal justice system works. Always a good thing. A million times over I have wished that the people in VA understood that we have a court rule here that states that any evidence of innocence that comes up more than 21 days after sentencing is FOREVER barred from judicial review all the way to the Supreme court. And by judicial review I mean it can NEVER be brought up in court. There was a guy here convicted of murdering his brother, who was actually still alive but had left the state in a huff. When he returned home we took him into court and said that the client could not be guilty because the person he "murdered" was still alive. It took more than 2 more years to get him out. Sorry Charlie! Been more than 21 days, so we are not allowed to look at that evidence, and you can't appeal my decision on that because the appeals courts are not allowed to look at anything the original court didn't look at and so on up the line. I think it is wonderful how many people, here and everywhere are learning how the legal system works to follow this case. Caylee has done amazing things in her tragic death. I can only imagine what she would have accomplished had she been allow to live and grow.
I will probably look up Oregon later. I am curious. And if any of you do request something and they deny you, you can always submit a FOIA request (might have to anyway, here we can just go into the court and ask for it), but in most cases you must be a tax paying resident and by resident, you have to legally reside there and carry a state ID or they can easily and quickly deny you and they do notice where they are sending things. If the FOIA request is denied they must give you good cause and state the law and legal reason for your denial as well as give you appeal procedures so that you can appeal if you choose to do so. Any if anyone is looking for information on FOIA requests, I do not know the procedure for all states, but am working on it for a little project of my own so I would be happy to help anyone looking to do so with how it is done.