John Lajoie v. Department of State Police - Crime Lab (SPR 20201332)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records August 24, 2020 SPR20/1332 Department of State Police Crime Lab Records Access Officer 124 Acton Street Maynard, MA 01754 Dear Records Access Officer: I have received the petition of John M. Lajoie, of Lajoie Investigations, Inc., appealing the response of the Department of State Police Crime Lab (Department) to a request for records. Specifically, Mr. Lajoie requested records pertaining to an identified decedent, as follows: 1. MSP Crime Lab LIMS documents relative to all specimen’s received, tested, and reported out 2. MSP COC documents relative to the evidence submitted in this case 3. ESF’s (Evidence Submission Forms) for both specimen’s tested (Blood and vitreous fluid) 4. The UoM (uncertainty of measurement) associated with the quantitative test results relative to this case 5. …[any] photos … of any evidence submitted to the Crime Lab … Unsatisfied with the response, Mr. Lajoie appealed and SPR20/1332 was opened as a result. The Department’s August 11th Response It is my understanding that Mr. Lajoie is acting as a representative of the family of the decedent and has provided authorizations to the Department to receive the requested records. In its August 11th response, the Department responded to Mr. Lajoie’s request and stated that, “the [Department is] continuing to work towards producing [the records] … but there are delays due to the ongoing pandemic ...” The Department asserted that, “the records are not public records pursuant to Exemptions (a) and (c) of the Public Records Law.” Given that Mr. Lajoie has a unique right of access to these records outside of the Public Records Law and the Department has expressed its intention to provide the records, I encourage One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 • (617) 727-2832• Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre • pre@sec.state.ma.us

Department of State Police Crime Lab SPR20/1332 Page 2 August 24, 2020 the parties to communicate further to enable the Department to provide the records efficiently. Accordingly, I will consider this appeal closed. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: John M. Lajoie Eric Hogberg, Esq., Office of the Chief Medical Examiner