A drug task force based in Mexico, Missouri, violated the state's Sunshine Law when it didn't allow a St. Louis County man to attend its January 2015 executive board meeting - as well as when it failed to announce the meeting ahead of time, post the meeting agenda and designate a records custodian, as the law requires.
Dave Roland, the Mexico attorney handling the case for Aaron M. Malin, of Chesterfield, told the News Tribune on Thursday the ruling was the first from eight cases Malin filed against several drug task forces or officials - including Cole County Prosecutor Mark Richardson and the Mustang Drug Task Force that serves Cole, Callaway and Boone counties.
Circuit Judge Rachel Bringer Shepherd, presiding judge of the 10th Circuit for Marion, Monroe and Ralls counties, ruled Dec. 31 the Mexico-based East Central Missouri Task Force's executive board is a public body under provisions of the Open Meetings/Open Records law, but its violations of the law were "not purposeful" and there wasn't "a conscious design, intent, or plan to violate the law with an awareness of the probable consequences of the violation."
Shepherd heard arguments in the case last June after being assigned to it as a special judge in Audrain County.
During that hearing, Roland said Thursday, they learned Audrain County's now-retired sheriff, Stuart Miller, "deleted information from electronic copies of requested documents then tried to pass off the altered documents as if they were originals."
Shepherd ordered the eastern Missouri task force to tell Malin and Roland of "the basis for each redaction from the minutes within 45 days" of Dec. 31, which would be Feb. 14.
She scheduled a Feb. 22 conference to determine if another hearing is needed for arguments on Roland's motion for a rehearing of the case and whether Malin can add a complaint about the copying issue to his original lawsuit because "Malin was not aware of these alterations until the day of trial."
Malin was working with the group Show-Me Cannabis, which supports the legalization of marijuana in the state, when in 2014 he began "investigating how Missouri's drug task forces use the extraordinary power and financial resources they are granted under state law," Roland noted.
He explained Malin's case in Mexico was "the first in a campaign of strategic litigation aimed at ensuring that those responsible for enforcing the laws are themselves transparent and accountable to the people."
Conference calls to discuss the status of the Richardson and Mustang Task Force cases have been set for March 17.
In addition to those cases and the one just decided against the eastern Missouri task force, Malin has filed suits against drug task forces in St. Louis City and County.
Although her 12-page ruling is dated Saturday, a copy of Shepherd's judgment wasn't sent to the News Tribune until Thursday morning.