Judge mulls whether to end public records case over Burlington shooting

An administrative law judge will decide whether to end a contested case alleging the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the Burlington Police Department violated open records laws by keeping secret some records about a 2015 fatal police shooting.

During a nearly two-hour hearing Wednesday, attorneys argued by phone over whether Judge Karen Doland should grant a summary judgment, effectively dismissing complaints seeking records about the Jan. 6, 2015, shooting of Autumn Steele, 34, of Burlington, by Burlington Police Officer Jesse Hill.

Hill, responding to a domestic disturbance call, fired his gun at Steele's advancing dog, but slipped in the snow and accidentally shot and killed Steele.

The DCI, which investigated the shooting, released some records, including 12 seconds of body camera video and descriptions of what led to the incident.

'The requirement is the immediate facts and circumstances be provided and those have been provided,” said Jeff Peterzalek, deputy attorney general representing the DCI. The rest of the investigative records should be confidential because making them public would establish a precedent allowing the public to obtain more personal records, such as autopsy results and crime scene photos.

Peterzalek and Holly Corkery, representing the Burlington police, said the case is like the movie 'Groundhog Day” because they say the same legal issues have been argued several times.

'I don't think the issues are that simple or that they've been resolved,” said Mark McCormick, a former Iowa Supreme Court justice now prosecuting the case on behalf of the Iowa Public Information Board.

McCormick said Peterzalek and Corkery are using misstatements of previous court precedents to ask for summary judgment. He asserts the public's right to know more about the investigation should be balanced against potential privacy concerns.

'We have the media doing as much investigation as law enforcement,” McCormick said, referring to recent mass shootings in Nevada and Texas. 'There is an intent in disclosure so people can see how justice is being conducted in these cases.”

Doland took the matter under advisement and did not say when she will rule.

The board voted in October 2016 to file orders alleging probable cause the DCI and Burlington police broke Iowa Code Chapter 22 by withholding investigative reports, body camera video and 911 calls. The contested case - only the second the board has filed since it started in 2013 - could have broad implications for the public's access to law enforcement records, even in closed cases.

l Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com