Information-request case in judge's hands

Newspaper, housing agency at odds

The defense and prosecution wrapped up their cases Monday in the criminal trial of Little Rock's Metropolitan Housing Alliance Executive Director Rodney Forte, who was charged in November with failing to comply with the Freedom of Information Act.

Both sides filed briefs of their arguments with Little Rock District Court by Monday afternoon. Judge Alice Lightle will make a ruling Thursday, according to court filings.

The Class C misdemeanor is punishable by a maximum of 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $500.

"I'm in court over doing my job," Forte testified during his trial May 14, adding, "I've never been in any kind of trouble at all."

In the briefs and during the nearly six-hour trial, deputy prosecutor Leigh Patterson contended Forte "did not act reasonably" in responding to records-release requests filed by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in August, September and October.

Forte's attorneys, N.M. "Mac" Norton and Hayden Shurgar of Little Rock-based Wright, Lindsey & Jennings LLP, argued that Forte and other Metropolitan Housing Alliance employees attempted to cooperate with the newspaper. The state did not prove Forte acted negligently, the defense's brief states.

The trial came after a months-long dispute between the agency and the newspaper over access to public records.

Much of the testimony centered on Democrat-Gazette reporter Chelsea Boozer's last and largest information request, which was for all of the agency's work orders from January 2012 through October 20, 2014, as well as any complaints filed with the agency during that time.

The agency did not respond to the request within three working days, as mandated by state law, Patterson said. It later sent a cost estimate to the newspaper for $16,378 -- the price of hiring temporary workers and buying extra supplies to comply.

The prosecutor's office issued an arrest affidavit against Forte the next day.

"We had never experienced such violations of the FOI, and we wanted a complaint about that behavior," said Boozer, when asked by the defense why the newspaper filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office.

In Patterson's closing argument last month, she said the estimate was "vague" and that the agency "negligently arrived at that amount."

"They wanted Chelsea Boozer to back off," she said. "They willfully failed to comply."

Marshall Nash, the agency employee Forte had directed to answer the newspaper's requests, developed the cost estimate, Forte testified.

"We did discuss the logic behind it, and I found it sound," he said.

Norton said Forte did not intend to violate the law.

"There's nothing negligent here," he said. "This is not a conspiracy."

Forte, Boozer and Danny Shameer, city editor for the Democrat-Gazette, all testified about the relationship between the agency and newspaper leading up to that final records-release request.

In preceding months, Boozer had submitted requests for job candidates' resumes, applications and scoring cards, as well as a list of employees who had been fired, laid off or resigned during the past three years along with the dates of their employment.

According to the prosecution's brief, pieces of those requests have not been provided.

In response to one request, Nash said the agency did not possess documents for all of its former employees that show whether they were fired, laid off or resigned.

Forte testified the agency was "getting beat up" over not providing all of the records.

"No matter what we did, no matter what we would submit, you could never please all of her requests," Forte testified. "It was always, 'You're guilty of violating the FOI.' We got swept into this tornado."

Boozer said she attempted to follow up on records-release requests with Forte but was told to contact Nash via email only. In one instance, she went to the agency's office to talk to either man, and they both declined to speak with her.

"I attempted to approach Forte when he walked into the lobby," Boozer testified. "He started straight past me and walked straight ahead. He ignored me until he could get to the elevator."

Both during the trial and in its brief, the defense questioned whether the prosecution appropriately charged Forte. He was involved only minimally in back-and-forth emails between the newspaper and agency, his attorneys said, and he directed Nash to handle the requests.

To the extent he was involved, "he was trying to cooperate," the brief states.

In response, Patterson argued that under the law, Forte has administrative control of the agency's records and is liable for any failure to comply.

Metro on 06/02/2015

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