Desi Powell v. Office of the District Attorney - Plymouth District (SPR 20210418)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records March 4, 2021 SPR21/0418 Keith A. Garland, Esq. Assistant District Attorney Office of the District Attorney - Plymouth District 166 Main Street Brockton, MA 02301 Dear Attorney Garland: I have received the petition of Desi Powell appealing the nonresponse of the Office of the District Attorney Plymouth District (Office) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; See also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On December 2, 2020, Ms. Powell requested, “[a]ny and all records for [an identified individual] for the time period of June 1999 to June 2003.” The Public Records Law The Public Records Law strongly favors disclosure by creating a presumption that all governmental records are public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A(d); 950 C.M.R. 32.03(4). “Public records” is broadly defined to include all documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any town of the Commonwealth, unless falling within a statutory exemption. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26). It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(iv); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). To meet the specificity requirement a custodian must not only cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. Current Appeal On December 7, 2020 the Office provided Ms. Powell a response. In a follow-up letter to the Office, Ms. Powell states, “I had made an amendment to a records request about a month ago. I wanted to know if this amendment had changed any pricing for my original records request on [the identified individual], and if it had been considered. If you could please give me 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

Keith A. Garland, Esq. SPR21/0418 Page 2 March 4, 2021 an update on the status of this request and the good faith pricing, I would greatly appreciate it.” In a letter to this office dated February 17, 2021, Ms. Powell writes, “…I have made several public records requests to the City of Boston, Plymouth County, and Brockton in an attempt to gain access to public records. While I received an initial response from Brockton and Plymouth, I have not received any further communication from them since I then responded.” Subsequently, I learned that the Office provided Ms. Powell a response dated March 3, 2021. Conclusion In light of the Office’s March 3rd letter, I will now consider this administrative appeal closed. This division encourages the Office and Ms. Powell to communicate further to enable the Office to provide the requested public records. G. L. c 66, § 10(a)(i). If unresolved issues remain, Ms. Powell may appeal the substantive nature of the Office’s response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Desi Powell