Access To Arrest Records Threatened In Court Challenge

Tuesday, 07/18/06

Suspects Posted Online Challenge
1974 court agreement with Metro bars data release until conviction

By SHEILA BURKE
Staff Writer

A Metro police Web page featuring the photographs and names of people accused of patronizing prostitutes violates a 1974 court agreement and should be taken down, a motion filed in federal court Monday says.

Nashville and state law enforcement agencies are violating that order every time they give out the names of people arrested but not convicted, James F. Blumstein, a professor of constitutional law and health law and policy at Vanderbilt University, said in a motion filed Monday.

"It's providing a form of punishment without the government proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the person is guilty of a crime, and there's great potential for abuse," he said.

Blumstein was the attorney in the case that led to the 1974 agreement. Monday's motion was filed on behalf of the same client, known only as "John Doe."

The federal court order, issued after an agreement between the plaintiff, Metro and the state of Tennessee, bars Metro police and the state from making public the names of people arrested by
Metro unless they have been found guilty.

People have a right not to have their names and arrest information made public without a conviction, Blumstein said. Some open records advocates disagreed.

"Records of arrests are public records, generally," said Paul McMasters, of the First Amendment Center in Arlington, Va. "And it is difficult to believe that a court order would cover all arrests for any crimes or arrests subsequent to the court order, but I have not seen this particular court order."

No court date has been set for a hearing on the motion.

Nashville attorney Alan Johnson, who represents The Tennessean, said that in the years since the 1974 order, the United States and the Tennessee supreme courts have found that there is no constitutional right to privacy with arrest records.

Metro officials said they would review the motion before deciding whether to take down the prostitution Web page or limiting information they give about arrests.

"We're going to look at it very carefully," Metro Legal Director Karl Dean said. "Obviously, any court order is something we take very seriously."

The motion asks Metro and state law enforcement officials to provide a detailed study of how they give out information to the public and how they plan to comply with the court order.

"We're not asking for any punishment or sanctions at this point," Blumstein said.

Blumstein acknowledged that arrests become public once the case reaches the court system.

Another open records advocate said Blumstein is not giving the public enough credit for understanding that an arrest is not the final word on a case.

"I think that the public is smart enough to know when someone is first arrested that they are just accused of a crime and are presumed innocent until they're proven guilty," said Frank Gibson, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government and a former Tennessean editor. •

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060718/NEWS03/607180360/1017