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Pastimes : Murder Mystery: Who Killed Yale Student Suzanne Jovin? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (1058)	2/13/2002 11:03:23 AM
From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1397

Re: 2/13/02 - New Haven Register: Make public file on Jovin murder EDITORIAL Make public file on Jovin murder A New Haven Register editorial February 13, 2002 More than three years after Suzanne Jovin, a Yale student, was stabbed to death, police appear no closer to solving the case than the night it happened, Dec. 4, 1998. There were no known eyewitnesses. Animal hairs found on Jovin's coat could not be linked to anyone. Police do not know how Jovin got to the East Rock neighborhood, where her body was found. A van seen leaving the vicinity was traced and discounted as connected to the crime. No match was found for DNA taken from under Jovin's fingernails. The trail seems cold, but legal actions prompted by the investigation are just heating up. The only suspect publicly identified by the police has filed a suit seeking to have police clear his name. At the same time, an attempt is being made to open the police file on the case. In January, a member of the state Freedom of Information Commission recommended that some of the file be made public. That recommendation may have turned on the commissioner's finding that Lt. Brian Norwood's testimony about disclosing records to "certain third parties … is not accurate." If the full Freedom of Information Commission orders that portions of the records be made public, the police department is expected to appeal. That appeal, however, is frivolous if the files have been shown already to some members of the public. The blanket refusal to release any information ignores the clear exemptions in the FOI law. The law already bars the identification of confidential informants or witnesses whose safety would be endangered; signed statements from witnesses and information that might jeopardize planned police action. After more than three years, the police should be willing to give more of an accounting than they have of their conduct of the investigation, its status and its prospects. There are compelling reasons for the public to be informed. Somewhere, there is a killer or killers on the loose who savagely stabbed a young woman to death. A fuller accounting from the police might prompt more tips that could help solve the crime. If all productive leads have been pursued and exhausted, experts like those in the chief state's attorney's office who specialize in dormant cases may be needed. The issue is as much about how well the police are doing their job as it is about the murder. The secrecy only feeds suspicions the police are more concerned about public scrutiny of their conduct than catching Jovin's killer. ©New Haven Register 2002 newhavenregister.com