Marsy's Law continues to hinder police transparency in Florida
Two years later, Marsy's Law in Florida continues to take its toll on police transparency.
Many other states have implemented their own version of Marsy’s Law without creating problems related to police transparency now faced in Florida. It appears other states have found ways to discern between the intent of Marsy’s Law to protect victims rights to privacy, while also making sure the public has access to pertinent information related to crime, policing, and government transparency.
Luckily since our op-ed, we have not run into any other notable police agencies using Marsy’s Law as a blanket exemption to releasing public crime blotter information. However, the original three agencies - Polk County Sheriff, Pasco County Sheriff, and Lake County Sheriff - are still not making crime blotter information public.
We have unfortunately learned of four other scenarios where police are using Marsy’s Law as a way to hinder transparency in policing. In addition to the removal of public crime blotters, potentially creating more victims in the process since residents no longer have a way to know about and prepare against crimes, Marsy’s Law has:
Removed the ability to learn about officer information in police use of force cases. Two separate incidents arrived at the Florida 1st District Court of Appeals this year. John Doe 1 killed a suspect who charged at him with a knife and John Doe 2 was involved in the shooting of Natosha “Tony” McDade. In April of this year Judges unanimously overturned a former ruling by Leon County Circuit Judge, allowing police officers to invoke their Marsy’s Law rights if they are a victim of a crime during use of force incidents. This undercuts the transparency laws already in place in Florida, placing complaint investigations as public information. Now, due to Marsy’s Law, officers involved in use of force are shielded from ever being publicly identified.
Removed the ability to learn about information in unsolved homicides and violent crimes. Less information about a case, especially homicides, can hinder tips from the public. It would be hard for anyone to put pieces together in a crime, like a homicide, if you do not know who was murdered and where they were murdered. In 2020, the Fort Myers Police Department would not comment on any information on a violent home invasion and withheld a sketch of the suspect for over a week because the victim of the crime invoked their Marsy’s Law rights. Marsy’s Law protects a victim’s identity, but does not shield the facts of a case from the public. A spokesperson for Marsy’s Law submitted a comment making their stance clear on this issue stating “There’s absolutely nothing under Marsy’s Law for Florida that would delay the timely release of information.” As with removal of a crime blotter, not informing the public on violent crimes removes a level of accountability within a police agency as well.
Removed the ability to learn about information on traffic accidents. Florida Highway Patrol refuses to identify drivers in accidents, even when no crime has occurred. FHP refused to release the name of a teenager who was driving during a storm when her car struck a downed power line. As she exited the vehicle, she stepped on the power line, electrocuting her to death. It is unclear how the teenager is a victim of a crime in this case, as no other parties were involved. With this level of exemptions being placed on public information, it is unclear for the public to know if FHP is enforcing the law equally or cutting slack to politicians, officers, or other people within the government.
Attempted to block the publication of the Groveland Four exoneration press coverage. In 2019, the Florida Board of Executive Clemency posthumously pardoned the Groveland Four. In one of the most proliferous cases of injustice in the state of Florida by then Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall in 1949 at the height of the Jim Crow era, four young black men were falsely accused of raping 17-year-old Norma Padgett and assaulting her husband. Some officials tried to prevent the media from photographing or even identifying Norma Padgett in the coverage, even though Padgett had gone public herself in 1965, and was publicly identified in the Pulitzer Prize winning book “Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America“.
SpotCrime is not against victims rights. We are against any law or policy that enables bad actors the ability to keep their actions shrouded in secrecy. Without the ability to know where crime occurs, the details of crimes, or the details of inner workings of government we will inevitably create more victims. We would like to see provisions of Marsy's Law further defined in order to preserve transparency.
Brittany Suszan
VP SpotCrime
VP SpotCrime
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