Joe Ferris sent a letter under the federal Freedom of Information Act requesting the letters and Cooper's pre-sentence investigation:
Court Clerk James G. Woodward's response reads:
Please be advised that the Freedom of Information Act does not apply to the federal courts. I will be glad to provide copies of any public documents filed in this case. provided you pay the required fee of fifty cents per page. The presentence investigation is not a public document and is therefore not available for viewing by anyone other than the parties to the case and court personnel.
While everything Woodward said is true, it is still an indictment of our judicial system when the letters sent in Cooper's behavior are hidden under a cloak of anonymity. What elected officials, if any (and I am sure there were some) thought this felon was worthy of a light sentence, or no sentence at all, and what reasoning did they give. There is no legitimate reason to keep this information secret.
3 comments:
Boo hoo boo hoo. There is no right to access to that data provided anywhere.
Boo hoo.
You are right about pre-sentence investigations, but letters of support are generally kept open and the public does have a right to know what their elected officials are doing with the power that has been given to them by the people.
Hey genius - the letters are a part of the pre-sentence investigation that you admit I am right about.
Post a Comment