Category: Transparency

Posted onA Step in the Right Direction

Judge Says No to “Top Secret” Tony Rackauckas (with update)

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No, you may not hear it!

UPDATE: Stop the presses. It seems as if I were a tad premature in my post. According to the OC Register, the judge gave the DA the right to come after a specific request is made by the Fullerton City Council:

The judge said the D.A.’s motion is a tad premature because with the City Council meeting tonight, there’s no way to know what the panel is going to ask for. Prosecutors asked for, and the judge granted, permission to renew their request, based on what develops.

This one’s not over yet. Top Secret Tony will be back.

Apparently the OC District Attorney was rebuffed this morning in his attempt to keep secret the audio record of the call made to Fullerton cops the night of July 5th 2012, that led to the detainment and subsequent murder of the mentally ill homeless man, Kelly Thomas.

The judge hearing the request said no. This seems to indicate that the releasing the audio would not impair any cases the DA is pursuing. Why Rackauckas ever wanted to keep it under wraps remains a mystery. Maybe somebody in Fullerton asked him to.

More information with details as we get it. Meantime, this item has been agendized for discussion at tonight’s special council meeting, so there should be some interesting councilmanic conversation.

 

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Posted onA Step in the Right Direction

Release The Phone Call!

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At last Tuesday’s council meeting, freshly minted councilman Travis Kiger let it be known that he had received a request from the public to hear the phone call made from the Slidebar that summoned the cops that eventually beat Kelly Thomas to death.

The nature of the call has been the topic of much speculation about what was said by the caller, whether the caller knowingly made a false report to the police, and even more sinister, whether the call was orchestrated by Slidebar personnel and members of the FPD to get rid of Kelly Thomas – allegedly an nuisance to Slidebar’s upscale clientele.

At this point there appears to be no reason not to let the public hear the audio of the call, if it exists. Since the DA obviously has no interest in pursuing the matter from a criminal perspective there can be no reason for officaldom not to let the public hear it. Not even the hollow pretext that “it is evidence” exists.

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