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Tag: FOI Appeal

CT State Police Appeal Freedom of Information Ruling for Lanza Documents

Written by Able Child on . Posted in Sandy Hook.

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Commission ruled Connecticut State Police must release personal documents seized from Adam Lanza’s home during the course of the investigation into the 2012 killings of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  The Connecticut State Police appealed that decision, which is pending.

Certainly there are several key documents of great interest to Ablechild such as Nancy Lanza’s journal, Adam Lanza’s psychiatric billing and educational records, and the GPS of Nancy Lanza’s car.

AbleChild has always maintained the position that it is critical for the taxpayers to understand all the facts in the mass murder in Sandy Hook, Newtown, Connecticut in order to understand and participate in the legislation that has come out of the incident.

Within hours of the closing of the 2012 legislative session and despite the fact lawmakers did not have access to the final police investigation, PA 13-3 was passed.  There was no public hearing held on PA 13-3, it was passed under a rare legislative “emergency ruling.”

This legislation allocated millions of taxpayer funds to more mental health services and severe gun control measures.

AbleChild filed a FOI request immediately following the killings in Newtown for similar documents, AbleChild vs. Chief Medical Examiner.

AbleChild represented the public’s right to obtain all the information that may have impacted Lanza’s decision.  During that same time, the New York Times ran an article making claims that Adam Lanza lacked mental health treatment. This is impossible to know without all the information being released for public review.

With billions of taxpayer dollars at stake and public safety hanging in the balance, the public continues to be denied basic information. This is unacceptable.

CT Hearing on FOI, Sandy Hook – October 9, 2013

Written by Sheila Matthews on . Posted in Sandy Hook.

FOI TASK FORCE USES VICTIMS TO AVIOD DISCLOSURE OF CRITICAL INFORMATION NEEDED TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC

The task force that met Wednesday night was created as part of a law that State legislators rushed through the Capitol to block the release of some records from the shootings.

This law was passed without public notice, or a public hearing. Citizens should be very concerned by this growing foreign style of government and the journalists who endorse it. It is not a law, if it doesn’t follow due process, and open hearings for the people to participate in the passing of that law. The Connecticut Post and other papers seem to validate this “task force” and gloss over the lack of authority and massive amounts of “conflicts of interest” the members of this task force hold.

According to the Connecticut Post article, Parents, others plead for privacy, the panel co-chairman, Don DesCesare, indicated that task force members would likely begin writing their final report in November. “He said that he believes they will have enough time to make recommendations for changes in state law, rather than simply giving approval to the law that is already on the state’s books. If it was our intent to second the legislature, we would not have all these meetings,” he said.

This obviously is an attempt by the State to backdraft their lack of public hearings, and public notice on the law they claim is on the books now.

Ablechild followed up with reporter on our concerns relating to the initial law that was passed without due process, we didn’t seem to get an argument there. However, when we asked why our testimony wasn’t a part of his article, we were told quite frankly that it was “to complicated” and all the task members had “blank faces” after we testified.

Honestly, requesting the toxicology and medical records of the school shooter doesn’t seem that complicated. We encouraged the reporter to read our FOIA docket case and educate himself.

It was so sad to see these victims used by the State of Connecticut so that the State can continue to avoid answering questions relating to their role in the psychiatric and drug treatment of Adam Lanza prior to his mass murders and suicide.

Of course, the public doesn’t want to put these families through any further hardship and neither do we. It is the State that uses them for emotional impact to pass unconstitutional laws. These laws do not serve the public but serve to protect special interest groups i.e. the drug companies and psychiatric industry that are donating to these bloated politicians filled with their own sense of importance.

Nothing the State will ever do with bring those children back to their parents. I believe the victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy would be shocked to learn the role the State played in the path of Adam Lanza prior to that deadly day.

The fact that the Mayor of Bridgeport, Bill Finch, considers the first amendment right a “maturation” is obviously a statement we fully disagree with and most Americans would as well.