The Florida Center for Government Accountability, Inc.; Michael Barfield; Gannett Co., Inc.; The McClatchy Company LLC; and Scripps Media, Inc. v. Christian Ziegler; Bridget Ziegler; Office of the State Attorney, 12th Judicial Circuit; and Sarasota Police Department
The Second District reversed a sweeping final judgment that had barred disclosure of law enforcement electronic records and ordered their destruction. The court held that data copied, flagged as relevant, and reviewed by police in a concluded criminal investigation are public records under section 119.011(12); that there is no Fourth Amendment exemption to the Public Records Act and the exclusionary rule cannot be imported into a civil public-records dispute; that the trial court impermissibly granted relief on unpled federal constitutional theories; and that the section 90.504 spousal privilege is an evidence rule that creates no public-records exemption.
Key facts
- The Sarasota Police Department investigated Christian Ziegler for sexual battery and later video voyeurism, obtaining three warrants to search his cellphone (over a terabyte of data, 30,000 videos, 250,000 photographs), his Google Drive, and his Instagram account; the State Attorney declined to file charges in March 2024.
- News organizations and open-government groups made public records requests to SPD and the State Attorney's Office for the electronic records obtained under the warrants, ultimately narrowing their request to only the records investigators reviewed and flagged as relevant.
- +2 more key facts with a free trial
Holdings
- Materials obtained and reviewed by law enforcement in the course of a criminal investigation almost always fall within section 119.011(12)'s definition of 'public records,' and once an…
- +4 more holdings with a free trial
Why it matters
This is a significant public-records and civil-procedure decision with reach well beyond its high-profile facts. On the merits it forecloses two novel exemption theories at once: that constitutionally tainted seizures… — full analysis with a trial
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