CJ Griffin Quoted in Northjersey.com Regarding Court Ruling Requiring Release of Police Body Camera Recordings
CJ Griffin, Director of the Justice Gary S. Stein Public Interest Center at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, was quoted in the northjersey.com article, “Judge says Paterson must release police videos in Felix DeJesus missing person case.” The article discusses a recent ruling requiring the release of police body camera recordings of a man who went missing in Paterson after being detained and then released by police. The lawsuit seeking release of the footage was filed by USA TODAY Network New Jersey, represented by Griffin.
“The reason officers wear body cameras is to provide transparency and accountability, so it is important for the public and the family to be able to see the police interactions with Mr. DeJesus,” said C.J. Griffin, the lawyer representing the USA TODAY Network in the case. “I’m hopeful it provides some answers, but we shouldn’t have had to sue for it. The court correctly found there was no lawful reason to withhold it.”
Griffin, the lawyer retained by the Network, argued in court papers against the city’s contention that the recordings were confidential because they were being looked at in an Internal Affairs probe.
“A record that is a public record at the time it was created does not somehow become exempt simply because it later was reviewed by the internal affairs unit as part of an internal affairs matter,” Griffin wrote in her letter to the court on June 8.
Under Brogan’s decision, the city must pay Griffin’s legal fees because the Network prevailed in case.
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