Friday, January 19, 2001
Friday, January 19, 2001 |
|
Wife seeks records after husband cleared
By JOHN
MUNFORD
A court hearing has been scheduled to determine if the city of Peachtree City can legally release the investigative file of a local doctor who was accused and later cleared of child molestation. Jill Karen Lazarus, the wife of Dr. Kenneth Lazarus, has filed an open records request with the Peachtree City Police Department seeking "a complete unabridged and without redactions" copy of the investigative file that was built against Kenneth Lazarus for child molestation. Lazarus was no-billed by a Fayette County Grand Jury in March 1999 on the charges, which claimed that he sexually touched a 6-year-old child in his home. The no-bill finding indicated that the Grand Jury felt there was insufficient evidence at the time to indict Lazarus on criminal charges. The city received a temporary stay to halt the records from being released Jan. 4 in an order from Judge Johnnie L. Caldwell Jr. that will remain in effect until the full hearing takes place at 9 a.m. Friday, Feb. 16. In a document seeking the temporary stay, attorney Christy R. Jindra (an associate of City Attorney Rick Lindsey) argued that the records sought "are not subject to disclosure under the Georgia Open Records Act as it is read in conjunction with other state and federal laws." Jindra also argued that the records requested include hospital records, police investigative notes, personal statements from Lazarus, and records from the Department of Family and Children Services, the Georgia Crime Information Center and the Department of Motor Vehicles. Releasing some of the records could cause a violation of privacy statutes, she said. In the order handing down the temporary stay, Caldwell wrote: "... it clearly appears that there are legitimate questions as to the disclosure of certain records that are in the possession of the city of Peachtree City which are the subject of this request...". Georgia's Open Records Act states that most law enforcement records need not be disclosed "in any pending investigation or prosecution," but "the prosecution shall no longer be deemed to be pending when all direct litigation involving said investigation and prosecution has become final or otherwise terminated."
|