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Thursday, December 21, 2006

Courts - More on: Kentucky Supreme Court carries out records purge

An ILB entry Dec. 16th quoted a report from the Louisville Courier Journal that began:

State court officials have endangered the public and undercut the prosecution of spouse abusers and other offenders by destroying all misdemeanor records 5 years or older, prosecutors and judges in Jefferson County say.

Interim Jefferson Circuit Clerk Michael Losavio said the Administrative Office of the Courts sent "six or seven burly men" to the courthouse Nov. 29 to haul away all microfilm and microfiche records dating from before 2001, all of which have since been destroyed.

Electronic records of old misdemeanor convictions also have been purged from the state court computer system.

(This ILB entry from Dec. 18th looked at whether the same thking might happen in Indiana.)

Today the LCJ has a story by Jason Riley reporting:

Kentucky Chief Justice Joseph Lambert has organized a group of judges and court officials to look into the recent purging of all misdemeanor records 5 years old or older.

Lambert acknowledged there "may well have been significant mistakes made" when, in November, the Administrative Office of the Courts hauled away all microfilm and microfiche records in Jefferson County dating from before 2001 to destroy them.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 21, 2006 08:12 AM
Posted to Courts in general