Email to Indiana Public Access Counselor re: Judge Hill's Obstruction of Public Records

Below is a copy of my email to the Indiana Public Access Counselor. I wanted to provide some insight into why Judge Brian Hill is so adamant about obstructing the release of the audio record from a grand jury proceeding in which the transcripts are already public record.

April 28, 2016

Indiana Public Access Counselor,

I want to thank the Office of the Public Access Counselor for its professionalism in addressing my complaint. Unfortunately, others do not share your same level of professionalism as Judge Brian Hill has apparently decided not to comply with Advisory Opinion issued by your office. I have yet to receive a copy of an amended order directing the release of the grand jury audio in question. Hill has not provided any explanation why he has decided not to release the records per Hill's agreement with the PAC.  I included this information in a new complaint to the PAC that deals with Hill's failure to respond to my request for the entire transcription of the grand jury proceedings. The following is a link to my complaint to the PAC, dated April 27, 2016.

http://www.dadsfamilycourtexperience.com/Brewington_PAC_Complaint_27APR16.pdf f . A hard copy is en route via USPS.

The delay or change of mind by Judge Hill does not come as a surprise. It was only recently I discovered the rules governing the reporting of trial court proceedings also apply to grand jury proceedings. At some point Dearborn County Superior Court II Reporter Barbara Ruwe and Dearborn County Prosecutor F. Aaron Negangard came to an agreement that Ruwe would not prepare an accurate and complete transcript of the proceeding because the transcripts are void of any procedural conversation prior to the transcripts opening with witness testimony. This of course put me at a tremendous disadvantage. The indictments in my case were void of any specific actions or dates. The prosecution informed Hill that any specifics of the State's case could be gleaned from the complete transcript of the grand jury proceeding and then the prosecution snuck in an abridged transcription of the proceedings. Any alteration of the grand jury record would have to be approved by a judge. It is unclear whether Judge McLaughlin or Judge Hill approved the secret alteration of the grand jury record. The notion that Ruwe made unauthorized changes to a grand jury record to assist the prosecution without the approval of a judge seems highly unlikely. Doing so would not only require conspiring with Prosecutor Negangard to deprive a criminal defendant of constitutionally sufficient charging information, a violation of federal civil rights laws, but it would also hinge on the assumption that neither Hill nor McLaughlin would report the criminal activity. Taking everything into account, Hill ordering Ruwe to prepare copies of the grand jury audio for public access is akin to Hill ordering Ruwe to dig Ruwe and Negangard's professional graves. The "X" factor in the scenario is whether Hill authorized the secret alterations. If Hill did approve of the unlawful modification of the grand jury record, ordering Ruwe to make the audio available to the public would be requesting Ruwe to dig a hole for Hill as well. Even if Ruwe accidently recorded only a portion of the grand jury proceedings, neither Ruwe, Negangard, nor Hill took any measures to notify Brewington so Brewington could take appropriate measures to determine what specific actions Negangard alleged to be unlawful.

I understand the PAC is not a disciplinary entity not does the PAC possess the authority to force Hill to honor Hill's own agreement to release the grand jury audio. I provided this addition information to the PAC for added perspective to why Judge Hill appears belligerently opposed to releasing an already public record. The PAC is free to add any content of this email to my April 27, 2016. If formality is required, I would gladly attach the email to an official complaint form. As this case involves the less than scrupulous actions of law enforcement and judicial officials, I also attached a cover letter to those entities listed as being copied to the complaint. The cover letter makes note of my concerns of further prosecutorial and/or judicial retaliation by Prosecutor F. Aaron Negangard and Judge Brian Hill.  A copy of the cover letter and complaint to the PAC can be found at http://danbrewington.blogspot.com/2016/04/for-those-searching-for-my-latest.html.html

Thank you for your time and patience in this matter. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Sincerely,

Dan Brewington

Did Judge Brian Hill authorize "modifications" to official grand jury record to help Prosecution?

For those searching for my latest complaint to the Indiana Public Access Counselor click the below link. See how many people were copied to the complaint and supporting documents demonstrating that Judge Brian Hill knew Dearborn County Prosecutor F Aaron Negangard conspired with Barbara Ruwe, the Chief Court Reporter for the Dearborn County Superior Court II, to alter the record of a grand jury proceeding to unlawfully hinder a defendant's civil rights. The question remains, what judge authorized the modification of a normally secretive grand jury proceeding? Dearborn Superior Court II Judge Sally McLaughlin or Special Judge Brian Hill from Rush County Superior Court? Maybe the FBI or US Justice Department will figure something out because they were copied to the complaint too.

http://www.dadsfamilycourtexperience.com/Public_Access_Complaint_Mailer.pdf

Stay tuned for more information.

Court may be forced to admit Grand Jury Fraud in Dearborn County, Indiana

It may come down to this. Judge Brian Hill denied my public records request to release the audio from the Grand Jury proceedings because it is likely that audio is different from the transcripts.I'm still waiting from a ruling from the Indiana Office of the Public Access Counselor on the matter. In the meantime, here's my request for the release of the entire Grand Jury transcripts. If Judge Hill claims that I am not entitled to the entire transcript, the Office of the Dearborn County Prosecutor lied when Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Kisor told the Court that the transcripts were complete. Kisor instructed the Court that I was to rely on the complete transcript to determine what actions of mine the State alleged to be illegal. If Hill says the transcripts are complete, then Dearborn County Prosecutor F. Aaron Negangard has to explain how Negangard began the proceedings without giving any instruction or comments to the grand jury or without making any other statements on record prior to calling the State's first witness. This is like whittling down a big oak tree with a dull pocket knife but it appears as if there may be a little light at the end of the tunnel with my Request for Complete Copy of Grand Jury Transcripts.  Stay tuned for more information.

Complaint against Dearborn Superior Court II for obstructing access to Grand Jury Records

This post is a must read to anyone interested in government transparency especially as it relates to the normally secretive grand jury process. The Dearborn County (IN) Superior Court II is refusing, in the absence of any statutory reason, to release the audio from a grand jury proceeding despite the grand jury exhibits and the transcription of the audio already being public record.

I filed a Formal Complaint to the Office of the Public Counselor for the State of Indiana regarding the refusal of the Dearborn County Superior Court II to release the audio record from a grand jury proceeding despite the transcripts of the proceedings already being public record. [In case of any doubts as to the record of the grand jury record being public, here are the transcripts from the proceedings.] Special Judge Brian Hill has issued three different orders regarding the release of the grand jury audio. In response to prior requests for public records, on January 12, 2012, Judge Hill ordered the court reporter to prepare compact disc recordings of the grand jury proceedings of February 28, 2011, March 1, 2011, and March 2, 2011. On February 2, 2012, Judge Hill issued a new order stating the grand jury audio was not admitted into evidence and since there were no audio recordings in the case, Hill rendered the request “moot.” When I requested the grand jury audio on January 29, 2016, Hill filed his February 4, 2016 order denying my request claiming “there’s been no sufficient reason set forth which would necessitate the release of said audio recordings”, despite Indiana statute requiring a public agency to “state the statutory exception authorizing the withholding of all or part of the public record.” The grand jury record is public because Hill admitted the transcripts as evidence during trial. Even holding that somehow the release of an audio record is different than the written record, Hill failed to mention how that affected the release of the audio. He just said I didn’t give a “good enough reason.”

The dirty secret is someone contacted Judge Hill and told him not to release the grand jury audio. Why else would Judge Hill suddenly remember three weeks later that no audio was admitted during trial? Hill also claimed a pretrial hearing on July 18, 2011 did not take place. So what is the problem? It appears that Dearborn County Prosecutor F. Aaron Negangard instructed Barbara Ruwe, court reporter for the Dearborn County Superior Court II, to transcribe only witness testimony and what Negangard wanted her to transcribe. [Barbara Ruwe is the court reporter for Judge Sally McLaughlin (formerly Blankenship). McLaughlin is the same judge who set my bond at $600K because the prosecution argued I did not respect the authority of the Courts.] There is no record of interaction between the grand jury and Prosecutor Negangard. The transcripts depict the jurors just appearing at the grand jury proceedings to listen to the first witness without any instruction. Negangard instructed the court reporter to prepare a transcript that was tailored to the advantage of the prosecution. A problem lies in the fact that during a pretrial hearing Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Kisor stated there was a complete transcript of the grand jury proceedings. Even more suspicious is that the pretrial hearing happened to occur on July 18, 2011; same pretrial hearing Judge Hill claimed to have never taken place. The hearing was later “found” when Judge Brian Hill was informed that people prepared affidavits attesting to their presence at the July 18^th hearing. This is clearly a situation where if nobody has anything to hide then just produce the record. Stay tuned for more details.  

The Indiana Judicial Qualifications Committee advised me to commit a crime

I sent an email to the Indiana Supreme Court Commission on Judicial Qualifications in an effort to advise the Commission of the circumstances regarding less the than honest efforts of the Dearborn County Superior Court II in addressing requests for public records. Adrienne Meiring, legal counsel for the Commission stated, “The Commission cannot consider your concerns unless you file a complaint.” The problem is Ms. Meiring’s boss, Indiana Chief Justice Loretta H. Rush Chair of the Commission, upheld my criminal convictions by finding that my prior complaint against court psychologist Dr. Edward J. Connor to the Kentucky Board of Examiners of Psychology played a role in my alleged criminal intimidation and attempted obstruction of justice. Ms. Meiring’s email included a complaint form, which states I could not be held civilly liable for filing a complaint. Unfortunately, there are no provisions to protect people from being criminally liable for filing complaints against court officials. Of course, this all comes from Adrienne Meiring, the same person whom Judge Humphrey testified is the person that advised Humphrey to remain on my divorce case in an effort to protect other Indiana judges from me. Here is my response to the Commission that includes links to supporting documentation. 

Amended Request for Grand Jury Audio

It should come to no surprise that the Dearborn County Superior Court II disregards fact and Indiana law when addressing transparency through the release of public records. In the Court’s order denying my request, Special Judge Brian Hill stated, “Mr. Brewington has alleged that these audio recordings were admitted into evidence at his criminal trial, however, the Court finds that they were not, and there's been no sufficient reason set forth which would necessitate the release of said audio recordings.” Of course I never alleged the audio was admitted during trial and Indiana Code 5-14-3-1 clearly "place[s] the burden of proof for the nondisclosure of a public record on the public agency that would deny access to the record and not on the person seeking to inspect and copy the record." Please note that the transcripts from the grand jury proceedings in my case are already public record. The only reason NOT to release the audio from the grand jury is to protect public officials who have abused the grand jury process. Feel free to review the Amended Request for Grand Jury Audio.

In the alternative that the Court would make a claim that it does not maintain the record, I have also sent a public records request to Dearborn Prosecutor F. Aaron Negangard for the Grand Jury Audio from the investigative file. 

Request for Grand Jury Audio from the Court of Sally A. McLaughlin

     Below is a Public Record Request for the audio from the grand jury proceedings initiated by Dearborn County Prosecutor F. Aaron Negangard on January 15, 2011 to investigate the internet writings of Dan Brewington. Negangard initiated the investigation, five days after the Indiana Supreme Court dismissed a complaint that Brewington filed against Negangard. Negangard initiated the grand jury proceedings through the court of Dearborn Superior Court II Judge Sally A. McLaughlin (Blankenship at the time) to determine if making “unsubstantiated” and “over the top” statements about officials operating within the Dearborn County Court System violated First Amendment law. Brewington was indicted and convicted for criminal defamation but Brewington’s convictions were upheld upon a hidden threat argument first raised by Chief Justice Loretta H. Rush and the Indiana Supreme Court, despite the term “hidden threat” never appearing in the record of the trial or the transcripts from the grand jury proceedings. Prior requests for public records regarding Brewington’s case have prompted Judge McLaughlin’s (Blankenship) court to issue claims of lost documents and missing records, while responding to requests for public record with unsigned and untitled documents. Judge McLaughlin (Blankenship) is now one of thirty applicants to fill an Indiana Supreme Court position becoming available with the retirement of Justice Brent E. Dickson.

     Brewington’s case is flooded with constitutional violations that the Indiana Supreme Court claimed were waived by the trial strategy of Brewington’s public defender, Bryan E. Barrett, whom refused to speak with Brewington prior to trial and prohibited Brewington from any participation in the preparation of Brewington’s own defense strategy. The CCS in the case demonstrates how the Trial Court and Prosecution attempted to try Brewington prior to Brewington receiving the evidence from the grand jury, which the State claimed to form the basis of the non-specific general indictments. The grand jury evidence was not released until August 23, 2011, seven days after the original vacated trial date. As the trial court already authorized the release of the transcripts of the grand jury [Brewington Grand Jury Transcripts], the release of the audio only serves as an appropriate check on transparency of the courts and provides the public an educational insight to an otherwise very secretive prosecutorial process.

     Feel free to read Brewington’s Public Records Request for the Grand Jury Audio addressed to Dearborn County Superior Court II Judge Sally A. McLaughlin (Blankenship), current applicant to the Indiana Supreme Court. See also Brewington’s Public Records Request for the Court Audio  from Brewington’s trial addressed to Judge McLaughlin (Blankenship), which includes an order from the Dearborn County Superior Court II denying that previous hearings in Brewington’s criminal proceedings actually occurred. Any questions or concerns about the transparency of Indiana Courts or about Dearborn County Superior Court II Judge Sally A. McLaughlin (Blankenship) or any other current applicant seeking to fill the position of retiring Indiana Supreme Court Justice  Brent E. Dickson can be directed to the Commission on Judicial Qualifications. Judge McLaughlin has seven days to respond to Brewington’s public records requests and responses from Dearborn Superior Court II will be posted on this blog. A denial of the request will be challenged in a hearing pursuant to Indiana law. See below for more information on the contact and member information of the Indiana Supreme Court Commission and a list of the thirty applicants for the open position of the Indiana Supreme Court. Check out the Indiana Law Blog for scheduling of public interviews for the below candidates.    

Indiana Supreme Court Commission on Judicial Qualifications

Chief Justice Loretta H. Rush, Chair

David Tinkey, First District

Charlie Berger, First District

Lynette Long, Second District

Lee Christie, Esq., Second District

John O. Feighner, Esq., Third District

Rudy Yakym III, Third District

Staff Contact

Division of State Court Administration

30 S. Meridian St., Ste. 500

Indianapolis, IN 46204

317-232-4706

317-233-6586 [fax]

Lilia G. Judson, Esq., Interim Chief Administrative Officer

David J. Remondini, Esq., Interim Executive Director

Adrienne L. Meiring, Counsel

adrienne.meiring@courts.in.gov

Robin Meyers, Paralegal

robin.meyers@courts.in.gov

Applicants for Indiana Supreme Court Justice

Mr. Thomas P. Yoder

Mr. Geoffrey G. Slaughter

Mr. Thomas E. Wheeler, II

Hon. Thomas J. Felts

Mr. Peter J. Rusthoven

Hon. Vicki L. Carmichael

Mr. David E. Cook

Mr. Curtis E. Shirley

Mr. Mark A. Lienhoop

Hon. James R. Ahler

Hon. Sally A. McLaughlin (Blankenship)

Hon. Matthew C. Kincaid

Ms. Jaime M. Oss

Hon. Larry W. Medlock

Mr. John H. Shean

Hon. Steven L. Hostetler

Mr. E. Nelson Chipman, Jr.

Ms. Leanna K. Weissmann

Hon. Frances C. Gull

Hon. Darrin M. Dolehanty

Ms. Elizabeth C. Green

Mr. Bryce D. Owens

Mr. Ted A. Waggoner

Hon. Kit C. Crane

Hon. Paul R. Cherry

Rep. Thomas W. Washburne

Mr. Thomas M. Fisher

Mr. Lyle R. Hardman

Ms. Karen A. Wyle

Hon. Steven R. Nation