ACLU sues Cole County prosecutor over records release

Marijuana advocate wants info on drug task force

An officer with the Mustang Drug Task Force finishes searching the trunk of a vehicle parked outside a home in Fulton on April 23, 2014. (Fulton Sun file photo)
An officer with the Mustang Drug Task Force finishes searching the trunk of a vehicle parked outside a home in Fulton on April 23, 2014. (Fulton Sun file photo)

Clarification: Aaron Malin left his employment with the Show-Me Cannabis group on Aug. 5. That information was provided to the News Tribune after publication of this article.

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Aaron M. Malin wants Cole County's circuit court to order Prosecutor Mark Richardson to release certain records.

Richardson told the News Tribune in a Thursday afternoon email: "Records from the Prosecutor's office are released under court orders.

"If they get a court order they will then get the records."

The ACLU said in its eight-page lawsuit, filed Wednesday, that Malin is a Missouri resident.

In a different lawsuit the ACLU filed on Malin's behalf just three weeks ago - against the Missouri Association of Community Task Forces, generally known as ACT Missouri - Malin was identified in supporting documents as "director of research" for the group Show-Me Cannabis, which is working for laws allowing the free use of marijuana in the state.

This week's lawsuit accused Richardson of refusing three Malin requests for records.

On April 1, 2015, Malin asked Richardson's office for records of "any correspondence or communication" between the Cole County Prosecutor's office and the MUSTANG Drug Task Force, which covers Cole, Callaway and Boone counties.

On April 8, the lawsuit said, Richardson provided a denial letter which said: "The records you requested, even if they existed, would not be categorized. To search, categorize, and compile such records would be unduly burdensome.

"The costs to find and copy would be hard to calculate. Without confirming or denying the existence of records you requested, any official records of this office would be closed to the public."

On Oct. 22, Malin made a second request, asking Richardson and his staff for Cole County grand jury indictments issued since July 2014 regarding the sale of narcotics in public housing.

On Oct. 30, Malin asked for any open records inquiries Richardson's office had received since Jan. 1, 2015, along with the corresponding responses.

The lawsuit said Richardson denied the two October inquiries with the same response as in April.

Attorney Dave Roland of Mexico, who filed this week's lawsuit for Malin and the ACLU, said in a news release: "The Sunshine Law exists to keep our government and our public servants accountable to the people.

"The law does not allow Prosecuting Attorneys to exempt themselves from the transparency the people have demanded."

The suit against Richardson is the latest in a series of Sunshine Law suits Malin has filed with Roland and/or the ACLU.

"This all began in November 2013, when Aaron Malin was conducting research on behalf of Show-Me Cannabis," Roland told the News Tribune in a Thursday email. "The goal of the research was to find out what Missouri's multi-jurisdictional drug task forces were doing with the extraordinary funding and authority they are given under state law.

"Aaron began sending Sunshine Law requests for open public records to all of the task forces, but very quickly discovered that many of these groups really, really do not want to comply with the Sunshine Law."

So, with Roland as the attorney, Malin filed "about a half-dozen lawsuits all over the state as part of a large-scale strategic effort to ensure courts require these law enforcement agencies to comply with this state's government transparency laws.

"Among those task forces that refused to comply was the MUSTANG Task Force."

So, Roland filed a 27-page lawsuit last May against the Mid-Missouri Unified Strike Team and Narcotics Group (MUSTANG) and its board members, including Jefferson City Police Chief Roger Schroeder and Sheriffs Greg White (Cole County), Dennis Crane (Callaway County) and Dwayne Carey (Boone County).

That case still is pending before Cole County Presiding Circuit Judge Pat Joyce, who also was assigned the Richardson case filed this week.

The other cases all remain active in various Missouri circuit courts - except for Malin's July 14 lawsuit against the Trenton-based Northwest Intergovernmental Team Response Organization, which was moved from state to federal court.

Roland said the ACLU stepped in to help with Malin's last two cases - Richardson and ACT Missouri - but that all eight are "part of the same strategic litigation effort."