State v. McDaniel

• Decision Date: 25 February 1987
• Docket Number: 18751-KW,Nos. 18750-K,s. 18750-K
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana, Appellee, v. Archie McDANIEL, Defendant-Appellant. STATE of Louisiana, Appellee, v. Wilbert Charles MANNING, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

Page 160

504 So.2d 160

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee, v. Archie McDANIEL, Defendant-Appellant.

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee, v. Wilbert Charles MANNING, Defendant-Appellant.

Nos. 18750-KW, 18751-KW.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

Feb. 25, 1987.

Richard C. Goorley, Indigent Defender Office, Shreveport, for defendant-appellant.

A.M. Stroud, III and Tommy J. Johnson, Asst. Dist. Attys., Shreveport, for appellee.

Before FRED W. JONES, Jr., NORRIS and LINDSAY, JJ.

FRED W. JONES, Jr., Judge.

We granted writs and consolidated these cases to consider whether the defendants, charged with offenses allegedly committed during a period of legislative suspension of a portion of the Public Records Act, may obtain discovery of initial police reports made in connection with the pending charges.

The Public Records Act was amended by Act 945 of 1984 to provide:

Section 1. R.S. 44:3(A)(4) is hereby amended and reenacted to read as follows:

§ 3. Records of prosecutive, investigative, and law enforcement agencies

A. Nothing in this Chapter shall be construed to require disclosures of records, or the information contained therein, held by the offices of the attorney general, district attorneys, sheriffs, police departments, Department of Public Safety and Corrections, marshals, investigators, including public health investigators and inspectors, correctional agencies, or intelligence agencies of the state, which records are:

(4) The records of the arrest of a person, other than the report of the officer or officers investigating a complaint, until a final judgment of conviction or the acceptance of a plea of guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction. However, the initial report of the officer or officers investigating a complaint, but not to apply to any followup or subsequent report or investigation, records of the booking of a person as provided in Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 228, records of the issuance of a summons or citation, and records of the filing of a bill of information shall be a public record.

This amendment was interpreted in State v. Shropshire, 471 So.2d 707 (La.1985) to require disclosure of the initial police report of a complaint, regardless of its investigative content.

Subsequently, the effect of the cited amendment was suspended by the following legislative resolution:

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 139

A Concurrent Resolution

To suspend until sixty days after final adjournment of the 1986 Regular Session of the Legislature of Louisiana that portion of the public records law under R.S. 44:3(A)(4), relative to the initial report of a police officer or officers investigating a complaint being a public record.

WHEREAS, PURSUANT TO Act 945 of 1984, R.S. 44:3(A)(4) now provides that the initial report of the officer's investigation of a crime is a public record; and

WHEREAS, prior to enactment of Act 945 of 1984, such initial police reports were not part of such public record; and

WHEREAS, the names and addresses of victims and witnesses are contained in such initial police reports; and

WHEREAS, the police officer is sometimes recording only initial impressions of such victims and witnesses under extremely difficult circumstances at a crime scene; and

WHEREAS, while such impressions are useful in an investigation, they may be used to intimidate and embarrass witnesses when made public; and

WHEREAS, the Supreme Court of Louisiana has interpreted Act 945 of 1984 to require the production of initial police reports, even to the discovery of "incident" reports; and

WHEREAS, suspension of the portion of the public records law relative to initial police reports will not affect the portion of the law which provides that arrest records, booking records, records of issuance, summons and citations or the filing of a bill of information are public records.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana suspends that portion of the public records law under R.S. 44:3(A)(4) relative to providing that the initial report of a police officer or...