Dearborn County Prosecutor
Aaron Negangard
Courthouse Offices
215 W. High St.
Lawrenceburg, Indiana 47025
Dearborn County Attorney
Jack Gay
755 N. State Street
P. O. Box 552
North Vernon, IN 47265
July 12, 2010
Re: Public Record Request Denial from Dearborn County Prosecutor Aaron Negangard
Dear Public Officials:
Please see the enclosed letter and attachments, dated July 7, 2010 (postmarked July 9, 2010), from Dearborn County Prosecutor Aaron Negangard. Mr. Negangard’s letter was in response to my request for the records pertaining to the Dearborn County Special Crimes Unit investigation of my internet writings. I am writing this letter in an attempt to resolve the matter in the most efficient and cost effective manner possible.
Mr. Negangard’s July 7 letter states, “Pursuant to Indiana Law, Investigatory records are confidential and are not to be disclosed.” Mr. Negangard also wrote, “I have enclosed a copy of the statute for your review.” Mr. Negangard cites the following statute:
IC 5-14-3-4(b) Except as otherwise provided by subsection (a), the following public records shall be excepted from section 3 of this chapter at the discretion of a public agency:
(1) Investigatory records of law enforcement agencies.
According to Mr. Negangard’s reference information, pursuant to Indiana Law, ALL Investigatory records are subject to release at the discretion of the public agency; provided the information in the Investigatory records is not excepted from release per IC 5-14-3-4(a).[1] It appears that Mr. Negangard does not understand the statutes regarding the release of Investigatory records or Mr. Negangard is trying to deceive me. I feel quite confident that Mr. Negangard is aware the Indiana Law does NOT prohibit the release of Investigatory records. IC 5-14-3-2(h) defines "Investigatory record" as “information compiled in the course of the investigation of a crime.” Indiana case law clearly establishes that public records under IC 5-14-3-4(b) are subject to disclosure. The Indianapolis Star vs. The Trustees of Indiana University, May 2, 2003, states:
Section 3 of APRA provides, “Any person may inspect and copy the public records of any public agency during the regular business hours of the agency, except as provided in section 4 of this chapter.” Ind. Code § 5-14-3-3(a) (Burns Code Ed. Repl. 2001). Section 4 in turn sets forth several exceptions to the disclosure requirement of section 3. Ind. Code § 5-14-3-4 (Burns Code Ed. Supp. 2002). Section 4(a) sets forth mandatory exceptions to public access, and section 4(b) sets forth exceptions which may be invoked at the discretion of the public agency.
Mr. Negangard is well aware that the release of Investigatory records is a discretionary matter as the release of Investigatory records to the public is sometimes necessary to protect the public and/or solve crimes (i.e. records of robbery surveillance videos, information warning the public of criminal scams, records to protect the public from child predators, etc…) I find the situation rather disturbing given that the information that I am requesting may have an impact on the current complaint against Mr. Negangard that I filed with the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission. Given the circumstances, it would be unethical for Mr. Negangard to have the final say in deciding whether to release public records if it appears that the records have the potential to negatively impact Mr. Negangard.
As Prosecutor Negangard’s denial was based on a non-existent Indiana law prohibiting the release of Investigatory records, I would expect Dearborn County/Aaron Negangard to release the records immediately. If Dearborn County/Aaron Negangard refuses to grant my public records request, I will file an action to compel Dearborn County/Aaron Negangard to release the records per IC 5-14-3-9(e) and place the burden of proof on Dearborn County to argue that releasing the details of an investigation of my public writings would be harmful to me or the public. As the matter may involve unethical conduct on the part of the Prosecutor’s office and/or other Dearborn County officials, I will be requesting that the matter be transferred to a court of a different county as I feel that it would be improper for a Dearborn County judge to rule on a matter that may incriminate the Dearborn County prosecutor’s office as it would have the potential to negatively impact past and current court cases. If the release of the records reveals any unethical conduct on the part of Dearborn County officials, then I will be taking legal action. Any attempts by Dearborn County to further obstruct my access to the records, will only cause me further harm. Given that Prosecutor Aaron Negangard has already provided me with false information in his denial of my request for public records, any further attempts to hinder my access to the records will be viewed as acts of malicious obstruction.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. For more information, please visit www.danhelpskids.com and www.danbrewington.blogspot.com.
Respectfully,
Daniel Brewington
[1] Examples of public records excepted under IC 5-14-3-4(a) are medical records; records containing trade secrets; social security numbers; a photograph, a video recording, or an audio recording of an autopsy, etc…
Nice job Dan. Aaron Negangard is very sneaky. Like when I spoke to you about him and told you that he sat there and rolled his eyes at me when I was speaking to him. He only cares about boosting his numbers and not about the people in this county. My daughter has suffered greatly because of this county and is still going through mental stress because of the almighty prosecutor. I bet you he did that on purpose but like you said you were going to find out the truth.
ReplyDeleteabout time someone stands up to the crooks at the dearborn/ohio county court system. I personally had my criminal records obtained and used against me in a civil matter.I asked judge cleary if it was legal for him to obtain that information and at first he didnt have a answer and asked how he got the information and the plaintiff woundnt answer and then he said it was legal for him to obtain my record on a exsisting charge and used it against me.They do what they want and make rules as they go and make arrest on assumption instead of facts.Glad you sttood your ground thats the way to fight against a very crooked system.
ReplyDeleteIm a concernd citizen regarding the andrew conley murder case as we all know that dearborn/ohio county is a very crooked system and since aaron nigangard has been prosecuter its been alot worse.I totally agree the verdict in his case (andrew) and many more cases the judge and aaron done agree on the outcome and people does not have a chance at a fare trial and in andrews case (which i dont agree at all with what he did) they gave him gary sorge who works more for the prosecution then the people he represents and with sorge,aaron,humprey the kid didnt have a prayer to a fair trial. It goes on and on about how bad the system is and all the crooks who run it and people like your self need to stand up to them and let them know that we do have rights and nomatter how much power they have there actions wont be tollerated! I wish someone or many would go to a higher up and investgate these crooks and put them behind bars ware they belong!SAD BUT TRUE!!!
ReplyDeleteDan, I thank you are very brave and wish there was more people like you that would stand up to the corruption that goes on in the county court system.The court system hurts familys alot more than they help and i really hope that more people would stand up to the corruption and hopefully you can get action on the cruked prosecuters,and judges that have been getting by with this for a very long time.The system is very illegal on how they pursuit there cases and most lawyers knows it goes on and they just let it happen also.The people needs to protest the court and i wish someone would arrange a protest cause the turn out would be unbelievable and maybe that would draw attention to the higher ups and get something done about the corruption that goes on at dearborn/ohio county courts and get the most corrupt person of all in arron knickengard! I feel bad for you but im very proud that you are standing your ground!!!
ReplyDeleteIm at awe on what aaron negangard and judge humprey did to you and your children its truely a sad story from what i read and the feed back that people write about the court system is truely concerning.Everybody i talk to says the same thing on how currupt the courts system is and im just glad you are standing up to them and fighting for what you believe and wish you the best and hopefully aaron negangard gets what he deserves and you seem to have a really good case against them but again you know they will lie,cheat and faulter what ever they can to cover there butts. I hope you can bring alot of attention to there curruption and hopefully wake people up to see just how aaron negengard operates.goodluck and godbless!!
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