I came across an interesting Access to Public Records Act case out of Allen Co.; JG's court. The inmate has been requesting certain documents on policies and agreements between the P and D, hasn't been able to get them and finally filed a complaint with the public access councilor. The opinion was just issued on December 6, 2023.
Here are some snips from it:
BRENT TAYLOR, Complainant, v. ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC DEFENDER’S OFFICE, Respondent.
BRITT, opinion of the counselor:
This advisory opinion is in response to the formal complaint alleging the Allen County Public Defender’s Office violated the Access to Public Records Act.1 The agency did not fully respond despite several invitations to do so. In accordance with Indiana Code § 5-14-5-10, I issue the following opinion to the formal complaint received by the Office of the Public Access Counselor on September 27, 2023.
...
On September 13, 2023, Brent A. Taylor (Complainant),submitted a public records request to the Allen County Public Defender’s Office seeking the following documents:
1. All agreements between the Allen County Public Defender’s Office & the Allen County Prosecutor’s Office regarding Discovery practices pertaining to individuals represented by the Allen County Public Defender’s Office....Not seeing anything by way of “agreements” or “policies,” this office sought clarification the same day. After not receiving any response, we once again asked for clarification on November 8 whether any policies existed. This time, on November 9, the Allen County Public Defender simply stated: “The discovery practices of Allen County are governed by the local trial rules” but did not address the question whether there were any agreements or policies or policies responsive to Taylor’s request. Therefore, we once again asked the yes-or-no question whether there were any documented agreements of policies.
...
Here, this office sought a simple yes-or-no confirmation on three separate occasions but only received an unhelpful and dismissive answer. ... Nevertheless, the Public Defender would not grant the professional courtesy of a definitive response despite being asked three distinct times to provide one.... Even so, when this office calls for a response from a public agency, it has a statutory duty to cooperate. We typically do not ask more from agencies than a good faith effort to state a position. Here, we asked for the minimum but were unsuccessful in obtaining even that.
...
CONCLUSION
Based on the foregoing, it is the opinion of the public access counselor that the Allen County Public Defender’s Office violated the Access to Public Records Act.