This case law simply states that an agency cannot issue a generically written denial for records that are part of an ongoing investigation. The appeals court ruled that the agency has to take the time to write a specific reason for the denial and explain why the requested information is relevant to the case.
So in other words, when Suffolk County denies your requests for copies of the 911 recordings they cannot simply write "your request is denied because we do not release any information related to an ongoing investigation". Instead, Suffolk County has to write something like this;
"We are denying your request for copies of the 911 Oak Beach recordings of May 1, 2010 because there is an ongoing investigation and we still have not concluded whether or not the information contained on those recordings are relevant to the case or provide evidence that might later be used to secure a conviction".
And since the statute of limitations for murder is... well eternity... that is the amount of time Suffolk County can continue to deny your requests under the FOIL act exclusions.
The ME's office has made it clear that SG's cause of death has been classified as "Inconclusive" at this time. That COD leaves the possibilty of murder on the table. As long as any crime is on the table as being unsolved, the 911 tapes are evidence that must be preserved for possible trial. Releasing them can compromise the investigation.
If SG was indeed murdered, certainly we would all like to see the guilty party convicted -right??
If so, then why would you petition for the County to do something that can hurt the chances of that conviction?
It's the same Catch-22 dilemma that the Gilbert family faces; you argue that SG's 911 recordings could be released to the public because the police are implying that her death was probably an accident yet at the same time you want so badly for her death to be pursued as a murder investigation. You simply cannot have it both ways.
Murder Investigation = no 911 recordings released to the public.
It's that simple. Even if 911 recordings could be released by Suffolk County via FOIL requests, wishing that the May 1st recordings are released is an indirect way of asking SCPD to completely give up on considering the possibility that SG was murdered.
Be careful of what you wish for.
Once you put your names on those FOIL requests there is no turning back.
I feel the same frustation as you do about the content of the recordings. Many of us want so badly to hear them for ourselves to help further our investigation and to help figure out what exactly happened that evening. But I do appreciate the value that the content of those tapes may hold for the investigators and the future prosecutors (should there ever be someone charged for her murder).
Why attempt to jeaopardize the investigation?