Documents chronicling the Little Rock Police Department's investigation into the fatal police shooting of Bradley Blackshire were released to the public Thursday and did not include several items listed in the documents' table of contents, despite the criminal case being completed.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette filed two Freedom of Information Act requests Monday for the investigative file sent to Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley's office on March 7. In a letter April 19, Jegley announced that his office would not pursue criminal charges against officer Charles Starks, who shot and killed Blackshire after the 30-year-old Little Rock resident refused to comply with the officer's commands.
The investigative files received Thursday were heavily redacted with, in some cases, whole pages of material blacked out.
The table of contents lists as pending the release of multiple items -- the autopsy report, the state Crime Laboratory fingerprint analysis, a report of a swab submitted for DNA and analysis of drugs found in the vehicle Blackshire was driving.
When asked Thursday why the autopsy and medical examiner's feedback were redacted, Little Rock City Attorney Tom Carpenter referred to Arkansas Law 12-12-302, which in part states that the records, files and information kept, obtained or retained by the Crime Laboratory are privileged and confidential.
The Crime Lab's information is released only to the prosecuting attorney or public defender assigned to the case, the defendant or the defendant's attorney, and law enforcement officials.
Carpenter said the records are releasable from the prosecuting attorney's office, but not from the city or the Police Department, as dictated by the statute.
An attorney general's opinion from 1987 said autopsy reports are not subject to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act when they are in the possession of the Crime Laboratory, but become subject to release when the record leaves the custody of the Crime Lab.
Robert Newcomb, the attorney representing Starks, provided the autopsy report to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette after learning that it was not included in the file Thursday.
"I am bothered by the fact that the autopsy and toxicology reports weren't included," Newcomb said. "The toxicology reports show at least two of the drugs in [Blackshire's] system were aggressors and almost certainly played into his bad decisions."
Metro on 04/26/2019