State refused to provide information to ACLU and media related to execution witness selection process
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- An appeals court today confirmed the Missouri Department of Corrections knowingly violated the Sunshine Law when it refused to provide information related to the state’s execution witness selection process to the ACLU of Missouri.
“As the state auditor’s recent look at sunshine law compliance found, it is not uncommon for government agencies to ignore the law,” said ACLU of Missouri Legal Director Tony Rothert. “Transparency is essential to the people being able to trust how their government functions.”
The ACLU of Missouri sued to obtain copies of requests by the public or the media to witness executions, the department’s response to those requests, and all records indicating the actual witnesses to executions in the past year. Initially, the department released a handful of heavily censored documents. Following the revelation that potential execution witness candidates are first asked their position on the death penalty, the ACLU sought the requests to determine if the Missouri Department of Corrections was selecting witnesses in an impartial manner.
Today’s decision echoed the initial ruling of the Cole County trial court, which the court of appeals described at noting “its disdain for, and lack of credibility in, the Department’s explanation of its conduct.”