Jack Greiner
A Florida Appellate Court recently displayed a case of myopia that would make Mr. Magoo jealous.
The court decided that Florida’s Marsy’s Law – a constitutional provision designed to protect crime victims from harassment from the perpetrator – applied to police officers who used deadly force to defend themselves from potential assaults. As a result, records of the incidents, which are clearly public records, will not be released to the public.
Several states, including Ohio, have adopted some form of “Marsy’s Law.” Florida adopted the law in 2018. The law is a well-intentioned effort to provide rights to crime victims. One goal of the law is to provide crime victims with “[t]he right to prevent the disclosure of information or records that could be used to locate or harass the victim or the victim’s family, or which could disclose confidential or privileged information of the victim.” To effectuate this goal, Marsy’s Law also provides crime victims with “[t]he right to prevent the disclosure of information or records that could be used to locate or harass the victim or the victim’s family, or which could disclose confidential or privileged information of the victim.”