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Apr 6, 2021 5:10 PM Tallahassee, FL - Siding with a union that represents law-enforcement officers, a state appeals court on Tuesday unanimously decided that a constitutional amendment expanding victims’ rights can shield the identities of police officers who were threatened in use-of-force incidents. The decision by a three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal came in a lawsuit filed on behalf of two Tallahassee police officers who maintained that, as victims, they were entitled to privacy protections included in the 2018 constitutional amendment known as “Marsy’s Law.” The lawsuit was the first major test of whether Marsy’s Law conflicts with a decades-old government-in-the-sunshine amendment that enshrined in the Florida Constitution some of the nation’s broadest public-records laws. But in Tuesday’s 13-page decision, Judge Lori Rowe wrote that no conflict exists. Nothing in the 2018 constitutional amendment “excl
Court rules law to protect victims applies to officers who want to shield identity after fatal police shootings
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MIAMI – The First District Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday that a law meant to protect crime victims applies to police officers who want to shield their identity from the public after the use of deadly force.
The ruling stems from two police shootings in Tallahassee that killed Wilbon C. Woodard on May 19 and Tony McDade on May 27. Officers reported Woodard, 69, was armed with a hunting-style knife and McDade, 38, with a gun.
The appellate court reversed a Leon County trial court order that found Marsy’s Law, which grants rights to victims, does not apply to the identities of officers who are involved in fatal on-duty shootings.
By Lexi Lonas - 04/07/21 04:47 PM EDT
The 1st District Court of Appeals in Florida ruled Tuesday that officers can protect their identity after the use of fatal force.
The appellate court ruled that a law meant to protect the identity of a victim from the public applies to an officer when they are threatened with deadly force.
“A police officer meets the definition of a crime victim . when a crime suspect threatens the officer with deadly force, placing the officer in fear for his life,” the court ruled.
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The ruling overturns a decision made by the Leon County Trial Court that said an officer does not have the same right to privacy as other crime victims since the officer’s name is “vital for the public’s ability to evaluate” the officer and the investigation, Florida outlet Local 10 reported.
Police identities are protected under Florida’s Marsy’s law, appeals court rules
‘Marsy’s Law’ designed to protect crime victims
Dara Kam, Senior reporter, News Service of Florida
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Siding with a union that represents law-enforcement officers, a state appeals court on Tuesday unanimously decided that a constitutional amendment expanding victims’ rights can shield the identities of police officers who were threatened in use-of-force incidents.
The decision by a three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal came in a lawsuit filed on behalf of two Tallahassee police officers who maintained that, as victims, they were entitled to privacy protections included in the 2018 constitutional amendment known as “Marsy’s Law.”