AG: Rio Rancho violated records law - Albuquerque Journal

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RIO RANCHO – The city of Rio Rancho’s refusal to release police records regarding the apparent gunshot death of the 2-year-old son of a Santa Fe policeman escalated into a blistering attack this week on the state Attorney General’s Office and the news media.

Informed by Attorney General Hector Balderas’s office Monday that the city of Rio Rancho violated the state public records law by denying a request from KOAT-TV for law enforcement records about the Dec. 8 fatal shooting, Rio Rancho City Attorney Gregory Lauer fired off a written response, which Balderas told the Journal on Wednesday was insulting and “very inappropriate.”

In it, Lauer suggested the AG’s Office itself had violated a different state law by siding with KOAT-TV. The city maintained the records sought were confidential under the state Children’s Code.

Lauer also accused the AG’s Office of providing “more than a series of contrived, illogical machinations” and said the AG’s “narrow, attenuated arguments demonstrate and confirm how one must embrace an illogical and myopic view of the law to arrive at the same set of conclusions.”

Lauer indicated that despite the AG’s conclusion, the city would continue to withhold the police records related to the death of 2-year-old Lincoln Harmon, and “protect the rights of children and families.”

But by Wednesday, there was a reversal.

A city of Rio Rancho spokeswoman told the Journal the city planned to make public certain records about the case, but needed time to redact certain protected information.

Rio Rancho has refused multiple requests from the news media, including the Journal, for law enforcement records about the case.

But on Wednesday, without explaining the rationale for the reversal, the city issued a statement that it was now “processing media’s requests.”

Lauer didn’t respond to a Journal request seeking an interview.

Guarantee of public’s right

New Mexico’s Inspection of Public Records Act guarantees the public the right to inspect and copy all public records, except as provided by law. The AG’s Office is responsible for enforcing the state’s public records law.

Asked about Lauer’s written response Monday, Balderas told the Journal,”I was actually shocked considering we are authorized under law to do this very important enforcement work. We took our time to make sure we were correct on the law and their response was very inappropriate and outside the norm of many of the governments we partner with to ensure transparency.”

Balderas added, “we were very prepared to swiftly litigate (the IPRA issue in court). I was even more surprised when they changed course. They wielded insults; they weren’t prepared to defend their position.”

On Wednesday, Annemarie Garcia, a Rio Rancho spokeswoman, said the city wants the Legislature to clarify ambiguities in the Children’s Code.

“The city believes it was legislative intent of the Children’s Code to protect children from ongoing trauma and mental anguish, and not for IPRA to expose victims’ information as content for the media, guerilla journalism and the dark web,” according to a statement she sent to the media.

Balderas said he was “disappointed that they (Rio Rancho officials) pretend to take the position of protecting children and yet I firmly believe that transparency laws also protect children especially in the light of these tragic circumstances. The community wants and deserves answers in terms of what tragically happened to the young child.”

Need for transparency

Since the boy’s death, no records have been provided by the Rio Rancho police department that might explain how he was shot and by whom.

The agency did file a search warrant affidavit on Dec. 9 seeking court approval to search the Enchanted Hills home of his parents Jonathan and Courtney Harmon. That document was released by the court and provided some information.

Officers who arrived at the scene discovered a spent casing and projectile near the boy, who died from a gunshot wound. A gun holster was on the kitchen counter, and the boy’s mother told police the firearm had been placed in a nearby cabinet, the affidavit stated.

The affidavit stated that the boy’s mother called 911 saying her 2-year-old son had fallen from a chair at their Rio Rancho home and “there was blood everywhere.” The couple have at least one other young child.

The 13th Judicial District Attorney’s Office says it sent the police investigation to the AG’s Office on Feb. 18 to avoid a conflict because Jonathan Harmon previously worked with the Bernalillo Police Department. That agency sends its cases for prosecution to the DA’s Office.

Balderas said his agency is determining whether there is a such a conflict, and regardless will provide technical assistance.

“Because this case is so important to the community of Rio Rancho we are assisting to assemble an independent investigative review team that can provide assistance to Rio Rancho police and to the District Attorney’s Office.”

Balderas said, in “very sensitive and tragic child abuse cases, investigative agencies have to produce a timely status update and be transparent in a way that all stakeholders can feel that at least the victim is receiving adequate due process under the law.”

He said enough time has elapsed that the “general public should at least be aware of the Rio Rancho Police Department’s conclusions and/or whether or not there are prosecutorial experts needed.

“If this was an accident with no criminal culpability there should be a general update or if this is a case for further investigation and prosecution that the general public needs to be aware of what direction this is headed and this just hasn’t occurred.”

“There needs to be an adequate level of transparency,” Balderas added.

CYFD closed inquiry

Meanwhile, the state’s Children, Youth and Families Department has concluded its inquiry into the incident and closed its investigation, said CYFD Deputy Cabinet Secretary Beth Gillia in an email. She declined to give more details.

KOAT, along with the Albuquerque Journal, the Santa Fe New Mexican and other news outlets, have asked for police incident reports and 911 tapes related to the circumstances of the boy’s death. His father is employed with the Santa Fe Police Department.

The Journal’s sister newspaper, the Rio Rancho Observer, had also filed a complaint with the AG’s Office based on Rio Rancho’s earlier refusal to provide police records pertaining to other cases involving alleged child abuse and crimes committed by juveniles.

In those cases, the city of Rio Rancho denied the request, again stating the information was protected under the state Children’s Code.

In issuing opinions on both of those complaints on Monday, the AG’s Office found no merit to Rio Rancho’s legal basis for withholding the records.

And the opinion by assistant AG John Kreienkamp related to the KOAT-TV complaint urged the city to reevaluate its approach to requests for records pertaining to children as well as public records requests more generally.

“The City’s policy concerns with releasing certain records are not a valid substitute for a specific exemption in law…and no provision of the Children’s Code creates a blanket exception to disclosure for any and all records mentioning or pertaining to a child in any and all circumstances,” Kreienkamp wrote in a seven-page letter.

In his reply, city attorney Lauer stated: “The letter from the Office of the Attorney General provides more than a series of contrived, illogical machinations which the City rejects because they are irrelevant as to what New Mexico Law actually states and prescribes about this subject.”

He added, “It’s possible actually in this instance that the Office of the Attorney General has violated the New Mexico Constitution’s anti-donation prohibition by sending what is essentially a demand or collection letter on behalf of a private sector individual or entity who is not entitled to such public resources, legal services or expenditures.”

“In any event,” Lauer wrote, “for all the machinations, the letter’s content does not change the plain language of the Children’s Code, which does apply as an exception to IPRA.”

Lauer, who was hired by Rio Rancho in late 2016, has previously been a private attorney in Albuquerque and had stints working for state government.

AG, city clashed before

The clash between the AG’s Office and the Rio Rancho city attorney isn’t the first.

In 2017, the Attorney General’s Office informed the city of Rio Rancho that its practice of charging citizens $30 for copies of 911 call recordings might violate the state’s Public Records Act because it was “excessive.”

The AG’s Office, responding to a citizen complaint, also determined the city violated IPRA because it didn’t allow the citizen access to the recordings prior to charging for downloading copies.

The city disagreed – and Lauer at the time said the city might start charging more for more time-consuming requests.

Ultimately, the city provided the four recordings to the citizen and offered to refund her payment.

source: https://www.abqjournal.com/2477860/ag-rio-rancho-violated-records-law-ex-city-blasts-balderas-but-agr.html

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