FOIA For Kate Worksheet

[XLFD]

This effort is a concerted attempt to get the information concerning all of the Baby Kate case out to the public.  The cover-up of information by Mason County and City Officials has been contrary to the law.  In the Trayvon Martin shooting, the courts, ruling with the pro-disclosure mandates of the FOIA laws, have made it so that lie detector results, interviews, recordings, and other records dealing with George Zimmerman (the suspect) are available to the public. 

 

Yet, Chief Mark Barnett in his statement declaring that the investigation will now solely look into ways to make the secret confinement charge into an open murder charge, while acknowledging that others have been cleared of any involvement.  At the end of this statement, he defiantly stated that no information about this case will be released as the investigation continues.  This is coming from a police chief that messed up the Amber Alert protocols, did not allow search groups involving the public to form until over a week had passed, and led and followed the Freedom Parade mere days after waving and enjoying himself while Katherine might still have been alive if she was left somewhere.

 

I say he is engaged in some serious CYA action, if not his, then for others, which the trial for Sean Phillips gave a lot of hints that there just might be.  They can keep their dirt, germinate their seeds, and redact any material as per the stringent confines of the Freedom of Information Act guidelines.  Keeping everything cloistered and secret is only breeding rumor and distrust of our local police forces.

 

In order to open the proverbial doors and let the information out, we need to unite and show the local law enforcement agencies that we mean business.  Protesting may be needed, but let's first see whether we can, one year after her disappearance, get all the facts, the reports, the interviews, and the 'cold' investigatory' records.  The best way to do that is through FOIA, and to get some other media involved other than our anemic local newspaper.  If we fail, fail, and fail in our FOIA attempts, it only shows that the local law enforcement agencies are violating the law in order to knock down the public's right to this information.  Here is a battle plan:

 

1)  Step 1:  Send a FOIA request to John Shay for the records of the LPD (some of our Facebook friends have already done this):  send it to  [e-mail];  if you want put in subject line  "FOIA Request:  Ariel Courtland Records"  and then copy and paste this:

"A joint statement by the Ludington Police Department (LPD), the MCSO and the MSP Hart post stated that "Previous speculation as to the involvement of the mother, Ariel Courtland, in the disappearance of Katherine Phillips is also not supported by the evidence. Extensive investigation into Ms. Courtland has been conducted by multiple law enforcement agencies. It has been concluded by investigators, and through judicial proceedings, that she did not have the time, means, or motive necessary, or that she has any knowledge of Baby Kate’s whereabouts."

As such, she is officially not under investigation for any aspect of the present, ongoing investigation.

Under provisions of the Michigan Freedom of Information Act (MCLA 15.231 et seq; MSA 4.1801 (1) et seq) I am requesting to receive copied electronic files to this E-mail address or failing that, to personally inspect the following public records:

Since the date June 26, 2011 to the present:

1) All interviews (recordings or transcripts) conducted with Ariel Courtland, alone or with others, by any LPD operative.

2) All written records received by any LPD operative from Ariel Courtland or delivered to Ariel Courtland from any LPD operative.

3) Any lie detector test results administered to Ariel Courtland in the LPD's possession.

4) Any written record now in the possession of the LPD received from any other agency investigating the Baby Kate disappearance, specifically dealing with Ariel Courtland's possible involvement.

If you need any clarifications of this request, please reply expediently to this E-mail address.

If requested record(s) do not exist, please enumerate which ones do not, as per the Act.

If you determine that some of the requested information is exempt from disclosure, please detail what is being withheld and cite the exemption under FOIA.

If fees to comply with this request exceed $20, please contact me at this E-Mail address with those fees enumerated.

As provided under FOIA, I would anticipate my request being filled within five working days of receipt of this letter."

Sign it, send it with a kiss.  Await your denial based on them being investigatory records and that they are denied by statute; if you don't get this, faint, and then contact me when you wake up.  Once you get that proceed with step 4.  You should also get rejection letters from step 2 and 3.  Don't get discouraged.

 

2)  Send a FOIA request to Prosecutor Paul Spaniola.  The prosecutor may have a whole different set of records than the City of Ludington, but there will be a lot of interlap, and maybe even distinct ones the other doesn't happen.  But Paul is very stingy with the records, and very prone not to reply too quick.  The neat thing is, you will probably get a letter in the mail from the Prosecutor's office saying he denies you under the same reasons.  Like step 3, about all you are changing in your E-mail is the references to the agency.  His E-mail is:   [e-mail];  copy and paste:

 

A joint statement by the LPD, the Mason County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) and the MSP Hart post stated that "Previous speculation as to the involvement of the mother, Ariel Courtland, in the disappearance of Katherine Phillips is also not supported by the evidence. Extensive investigation into Ms. Courtland has been conducted by multiple law enforcement agencies. It has been concluded by investigators, and through judicial proceedings, that she did not have the time, means, or motive necessary, or that she has any knowledge of Baby Kate’s whereabouts."

As such, she is officially not under investigation for any aspect of the present, ongoing investigation.

Under provisions of the Michigan Freedom of Information Act (MCLA 15.231 et seq; MSA 4.1801 (1) et seq) I am requesting to receive copied electronic files to this E-mail address or failing that, to personally inspect the following public records:

Since the date June 26, 2011 to the present:

1) All interviews (recordings or transcripts) conducted with Ariel Courtland, alone or with others, by any Prosecutor's office operative.

2) All written records received by any Prosecutor's office operative from Ariel Courtland or delivered to Ariel Courtland from any Prosecutor's office operative.

3) Any lie detector test results administered to Ariel Courtland in the Prosecutor's office possession.

4) Any written record now in the possession of the Prosecutor's Office received from any other agency investigating the Baby Kate disappearance, specifically dealing with Ariel Courtland's possible involvement.

If you need any clarifications of this request, please reply expediently to this E-mail address.

If requested record(s) do not exist, please enumerate which ones do not, as per the Act.

If you determine that some of the requested information is exempt from disclosure, please detail what is being withheld and cite the exemption under FOIA.

If fees to comply with this request exceed $20, please contact me at this E-Mail address with those fees enumerated.

As provided under FOIA, I would anticipate my request being filled within five working days of receipt of this letter.

3)  Send a FOIA request to Sheriff Fiers.  The sheriff, is a good man, but is almost forced to comply with the Prosecutor due to their statuses.  Copy and paste the following.  His E-mail address is:  [e-mail] 

 

"A joint statement by the LPD, the Mason County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) and the MSP Hart post stated that "Previous speculation as to the involvement of the mother, Ariel Courtland, in the disappearance of Katherine Phillips is also not supported by the evidence. Extensive investigation into Ms. Courtland has been conducted by multiple law enforcement agencies. It has been concluded by investigators, and through judicial proceedings, that she did not have the time, means, or motive necessary, or that she has any knowledge of Baby Kate’s whereabouts."

As such, she is officially not under investigation for any aspect of the present, ongoing investigation.

Under provisions of the Michigan Freedom of Information Act (MCLA 15.231 et seq; MSA 4.1801 (1) et seq) I am requesting to receive copied electronic files to this E-mail address or failing that, to personally inspect the following public records:

Since the date June 26, 2011 to the present:

1) All interviews (recordings or transcripts) conducted with Ariel Courtland, alone or with others, by any MCSO operative.

2) All written records received by any MCSO operative from Ariel Courtland or delivered to Ariel Courtland from any MCSO operative.

3) Any lie detector test results administered to Ariel Courtland in the MCSO's possession.

4) Any written record now in the possession of the MCSO received from any other agency investigating the Baby Kate disappearance, specifically dealing with Ariel Courtland's possible involvement.

If you need any clarifications of this request, please reply expediently to this E-mail address.

If requested record(s) do not exist, please enumerate which ones do not, as per the Act.

If you determine that some of the requested information is exempt from disclosure, please detail what is being withheld and cite the exemption under FOIA.

If fees to comply with this request exceed $20, please contact me at this E-Mail address with those fees enumerated.

As provided under FOIA, I would anticipate my request being filled within five working days of receipt of this letter.

Step 4:  Get involved with an administrative appeal:   Wait six business days for a reply.  If after that time you get no response, congratulations, you should be able to go to Circuit Court and maybe get the FOIA Coordinator on arbitrarily and capriciously denying your request.  But you should get a denial.  For the City, send it back to John Shay, his ulcers will love you for it; for the County, appeal it to Fabian Knizacky's E-mail: [e-mail]  with the following or a rough equivalent if you don't want to be restricted to form.

 

"I was not allowed to inspect any record concerning my request regarding records concerning Ariel Courtland and the disappearance of Baby Kate. I was not given any rationale for the refusal to do so, other than they were investigative records of a sort protected by FOIA, and that they were exempted by some unstated statute. This was after an official press release stated that Ms. Courtland was no longer under investigation, and cleared of any wrongdoing.

The FOIA allows an administrative appeal to the head of the public body, I request that appeal."

Step 5:  Await the appeal, go to a Ludington City Council Meeting:  You will be able to argue your case for up to five minutes (Mayor Henderson will time you) for disclosure.  You can say your piece, and have it as part of the public record that they denied your lawful request, just like they did the other people who show up to argue their case.  Or the City Council changes the rules.  Either way makes the cover-up of the Baby Kate investigation a headline story, and gets these records closer to being released.  Encourage others to go through these steps so that they will be able to say their piece at the next meeting with their appeal.  And so on, and so on, until we win.  Fabian is likely to make a negative decision without a meeting.

 

Step 6:  Continue waiting, the Circuit Court appeal may take a while:  The initial FOIA appeal I have took out with the City is still going through the court process 9 months later.  Encourage media outlets outside our area to do stories on why it is taking so long to get out records that should be available, and keep up the pressure via the Ludington Torch, Facebook, and other outlets.  

 

So be part of a regular-person juggernaut to find out why the laws on disclosure of public records are not being followed, and why we only get hair-brained excuses from police chiefs and public attorneys that are not based on law.

[april]

You didnt mention how he stated he (Barnett) was not searching anywhere unless they got a tip on it. which I found odd wouldnt you be searching where ever you could to find this baby girl?

[XLFD]

You would think.  But then I wouldn't personally lead the Freedom Parade, then get to the tail end of it and follow it, just 5 days after her disappearance if I were the Chief of Police leading an investigation into a missing baby.  Was he looking for Kate on one of the Scottville clowns?  That took over 3 hours of his official time.