A measure that gives crime victims the right to bar disclosure of information that could be used to harass victims or their families does not shield the release of police officers’ names when officers use lethal force to defend themselves, the state’s high court said.
In a case closely watched by the news media, the Florida Supreme Court said on Nov. 30 that the constitutional amendment called Marsy’s Law does not contain a right for victims to remain anonymous. The Florida Police Benevolent Association sought an injunction to prevent the disclosure of two Tallahassee police officers’ names, touching off a legal battle that went all the way to the high court.
“Marsy’s Law guarantees to no victim – police officer or otherwise – the categorical right to withhold his or her name from disclosure,” the opinion written by Justice John Couriel said. “No such right is enumerated in the text of article 1, section 16(b) of the Florida Constitution.”
The opinion stressed that the court is only ruling on what the measure, which voters approved in 2018, says or does not say.
“We do not pass upon the validity of any statutory right of certain persons, in certain situations, to withhold their identities from disclosure,” the court’s opinion states.
Marsy’s Law ensures that crime victims’ rights are no less protected than efforts to protect the rights of criminal defendants, the court said. One provision in the law includes the right to stop the disclosure of information that can result in personal harm to victims or their loved ones – or could lead to the release of a victim’s privileged information.
“Marsy’s Law speaks only to the right of victims to ‘prevent the disclosure of information or records that could be used to locate or harass’ them or their families,” the opinion says. “… One’s name, standing alone, is not that kind of information or record; it communicates nothing about where the individual can be found and bothered.”
The group Marsy’s Law for Florida expressed disappointment with the scope of the ruling, though the group does not support withholding the names of officers involved in use-of-force cases.
“While Marsy’s Law for Florida has been clear on its position regarding the release of names of on-duty law enforcement officers who have used physical force, the Florida Supreme Court’s ruling that this be applied very generally to all crime victims is disappointing,” Jennifer Fennell, spokeswoman for Marsy’s Law for Florida, told the Florida Record in an email, “especially as they recognize in this same ruling that certain categories of victims have the right to prevent the public disclosure of their names.”
Today’s information technology allows bad actors with access to victims’ names to use a name as a stepping stone to locate or harass victims, according to Marsy’s Law for Florida.
“With this ruling, the Florida Supreme Court has removed a right which Florida crime victims have been using for nearly five years and have been relying on this protection for their own safety,” Fennell said.
The Florida law firm Thomas & LoCicero, which represented the First Amendment Foundation, Florida Press Association and media companies in the litigation, said the Florida Police Benevolent Association’s interpretation of the law would have threatened the public’s established right to seek out information about official police activities in public.
“Today’s decision is a win for government transparency,” attorney Mark Caramanica, who represented the media coalition, said in a prepared statement. “The court applied a common sense approach to interpreting Marsy’s Law that reins in overzealous applications that hide newsworthy information from the public.”