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Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Courts - The upshot on: Kentucky Supreme Court carries out records purge
Updating the story of the mass destruction of misdemeanor records in Kentucky's Jefferson County last year (for background, start with this Dec. 22 ILB entry), Jason Riley of the Louisville Courier Journal reports today in a story that begins:
Jefferson County's electronic court records from old cases were destroyed in November despite an order to preserve them, according to the chief of staff for Kentucky Chief Justice Joseph Lambert.Yesterday, Jason Nemes told a panel of court officials investigating the purge that he was unsure why his directions weren't followed, but blamed himself for any miscommunication.
"Maybe I need to take the blame for not communicating that clear enough," said Nemes, who is now interim director of the Administrative Office of the Courts.
Local prosecutors and judges have complained that the purge of microfilm and microfiche records on Nov. 29 endangered the public and undercut the prosecution of spouse abusers and other offenders.
Commonwealth's Attorney Dave Stengel has said prosecutors lost a key tool used in sentencing and bond hearings, as well as in trials, to show that an offender has a pattern of misconduct.
Last month, Lambert appointed a panel of local judges and court officials to investigate and issue a report on whether the state's document-retention policy needs to be changed.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 23, 2007 08:00 AM
Posted to Courts in general