Wednesday, April 25, 2001
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Wednesday, April 25, 2001 |
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Courtroom closed to debate ex-wife's open records request for police files By JOHN
MUNFORD
A court hearing slated to debate an ex-wife's request for police investigative files compiled on her husband was abruptly closed Friday morning. Superior Court Judge Johnnie L. Caldwell Jr. briefly closed the courtroom after Dr. Kenneth Lazarus' attorney claimed that debating the issue in court would violate his client's privacy. Caldwell granted the motion despite protests from Jill Karen Lazarus' attorney and The Citizen. "To have a judge close a hearing on a case involving the Open Records law is unheard of," said the publisher of The Citizen, Cal Beverly. "According to the Georgia Supreme Court rulings, any closure of a hearing must first involve a notice and a hearing on the closure motion itself. No such notice or hearing occurred here. I have no idea what Judge Caldwell based his unusual ruling on. The very notion of a judge closing a courtroom and expelling the public from an Open Records case is troubling." Ms. Lazarus has filed a new open records request for all Peachtree City police records compiled in the investigation of her former husband for child molestation, even though he was eventually cleared of those charges by a grand jury. The new request asked for essentially the same information: an "a complete, unabridged, and without redactions" copy of the Lazarus investigation file. The grand jury declined to indict Lazarus, returning a "no bill," indicating there was insufficient evidence to support the charge filed by his ex-wife during child custody proceedings after the divorce. The open records litigation was brought by the city of Peachtree City, which sought a temporary restraining order to forbid the records from being released until a full hearing on the matter could occur. In light of the second request, which is similar to the first, the city will have to file another petition seeking a temporary restraining order. Ms. Lazarus' attorney, James W. Smith, has also filed a motion to recuse Judge Caldwell from the open records case. Caldwell has also presided over the Lazaruses' divorce case. In the motion to recuse Caldwell, Smith accuses the jurist of showing bias when he called Ms. Lazarus' child molestation claims "frivolous." "Judge Caldwell's characterization of the petitioner's claims as 'frivolous' indicates a bias towards petitioner," the motion states. "The entire purpose of this open records request represents an attempt to draw adverse publicity to myself, and in my opinion it's completely non-newsworthy," Dr. Lazarus told The Citizen Monday. "Another aspect it demonstrates is the poor judgment and journalistic avarice of this particular journalist. This journalistic witch hunt is also damaging to my children." Lazarus said that his wife lost the custody fight and that he has custody of the children from the marriage.
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