Re: 1/25/02 - NH Register: Jovin files ordered released
Jovin files ordered released
William Kaempffer, Register Staff January 25, 2002
In a surprising reversal, and despite protests from law enforcement, a state Freedom of Information commissioner has ordered portions of police files from a noted New Haven murder released to the public.
In his recommendation dated this week, FOI Commissioner Dennis E. O'Connor instructed New Haven police to release a fraction of thousands of pages of documents in the murder file of Yale senior Suzanne Jovin.
O'Connor determined that city attorneys and police "failed to prove that disclosure of the remaining records at issue would not be in the public interest."
At issue are thousands of police reports, memoranda, witness statements and other evidence pertaining to the December 1998 Jovin murder.
The case remains unsolved. Police named former Yale lecturer James Van de Velde as a suspect. Van de Velde has steadfastly maintained his innocence.
Police had rejected public requests for access and that decision largely was upheld by an FOI hearing officer in August.
O'Connor effectively reversed that recommendation. No final determination will be made, however, until a Feb. 13 FOI commission meeting in Hartford.
"I was actually stunned," said Jeff Mitchell, a friend of Van de Velde who petitioned for access to help clear his friend's name.
"I'm very pleased. I'm looking forward to reading any information I can," he said.
How much that will be — and when that might occur — wasn't immediately clear.
O'Connor instructed police to release a 911 audiotape and more than 4,400 pages of police documents collected during the investigation "with the exception of those portions concluded to be exempt from disclosure."
Of those 4,400 pages, the recommendation gave no indication how many would be exempt.
What could remain exempt are many police reports and witness statements not otherwise available to the public which could jeopardize safety if released.
New Haven Corporation Counsel Thomas Ude Jr. said attorneys will argue against the release of documents at the Feb. 13 meeting.
"My office will attend the hearing. We will argue, as we have all along, that it is in the public interest that these items not be disclosed," he said.
Lt. Bryan Norwood, who heads the detective bureau, referred questions to corporation counsel.
Last year, Mitchell and a newspaper separately requested access to police documents in the Jovin case.
The requests were rejected but both filed complaints with the FOIC.
The newspaper argued that police had opened the file to a private investigator hired by Yale University and therefore couldn't withhold it from them.
At a hearing last year, police testified that they hadn't opened their files to the private investigator.
However, in the finding this week, O'Connor leveled harsh criticism at police, stating that documents provided to FOI "clearly contradicts such testimony."
The commission also expressed "displeasure" with police for claiming a blanket exemption on the entire file and "then simply unload the thousands of pages of … records on the commission for it to review and determine which, if any, are exempt."
©New Haven Register 2002
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