ACLU ASKS COURT TO MAKE PUBLIC MISSOURI'S DEATH PENALTY PROTOCOL
St. Louis, November 22, 2002:Today, Cole County Circuit Judge?Thomas J. Brown III will preside over a hearing concerning whether?the Department of Corrections must make public the procedures ?used for executing individuals sentenced to the death penalty. ?The case involves an open records request made by St. Louis?attorney Cheryl Rafert under Missouri's Sunshine Law. Rafert's?request was denied by the state.
Rafert has been working since August 2000 to lift the veil of?secrecy surrounding Missouri's capital punishment procedures. Her?simple request for a copy of the Execution Protocol was initially?denied outright by the state for "safety and security reasons." After?Rafert argued that the procedures were a public record under?Missouri's Sunshine Law, the Department provided Rafert with a?redacted copy consisting of thirteen (13) of the approximately?seventy-six (76) page protocol.
After haggling with the Department for well over a year, Rafert?turned to the ACLU of Eastern Missouri for help.
"Our government derives its legitimacy from the fact that its?processes are open to the public," reads the ACLU's brief submitted?by ACLU cooperating attorney Burton Newman. "The true indicia of a?free society is the extent to which it allows for openness of?government."
The ACLU's brief stresses that under Missouri law government?records are presumed open unless they fall explicitly into a?particular exception.
"The State never told Ms. Rafert how the release of these records?would jeopardize safety and security," said ACLU of Eastern Missouri?Executive Director Matt LeMieux. "They took an 'it's a safety and?security matter because we said so' attitude. The state has to show?much more than that to claim these records fall under an exception to?the law."
The case is Rafert v. Missouri, No. 01CV 325895.