Title: State ex rel. Caster v. Columbus

State: ohio

Issuer: Ohio Supreme Court

Document:

[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as State 
ex rel. Caster v. Columbus, Slip Opinion No. 2016-Ohio-8394.] 
 
 
 
NOTICE 
This slip opinion is subject to formal revision before it is published in an 
advance sheet of the Ohio Official Reports.  Readers are requested to 
promptly notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of Ohio, 65 
South Front Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, of any typographical or other 
formal errors in the opinion, in order that corrections may be made before 
the opinion is published. 
 
 
SLIP OPINION NO. 2016-OHIO-8394 
THE STATE EX REL. CASTER v. THE CITY OF COLUMBUS ET AL. 
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it 
may be cited as State ex rel. Caster v. Columbus, Slip Opinion No.  
2016-Ohio-8394.] 
Mandamus—Public Records Act—R.C. 149.43—Writ of mandamus sought to 
obtain records of investigation leading to conviction of criminal 
defendant—R.C. 
149.43(A)(1)(h)—Confidential-law-enforcement-
investigatory-records exception to disclosure—Specific-investigatory-
work-product exception of R.C. 149.43(A)(2)(c) does not extend beyond the 
completion of the trial for which the information was gathered—State ex 
rel. Steckman v. Jackson and State ex rel. WLWT-TV5 v. Leis overruled to 
extent they held that specific-investigatory-work-product exception 
continues until “all proceedings” have been fully completed—Writ granted 
and request for attorney fees, statutory damages, and court costs granted. 
(No. 2014-1621—Submitted April 20, 2016—Decided December 28, 2016.) 
IN MANDAMUS. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
2
_________________ 
PFEIFER, J. 
{¶ 1} This public-records case involves an attempt by an independent entity 
to obtain certain law-enforcement records concerning a convicted criminal 
defendant whose direct appeals ended more than four years prior to the making of 
the request for public records.  We hold that the exception from the required 
disclosure of public records set forth in R.C. 149.43(A)(2)(c) for specific 
investigatory work product does not extend beyond the completion of the trial of 
the underlying criminal case at issue.  We grant the request for a writ of mandamus, 
and we order other relief as stated below. 
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND 
{¶ 2} Relator, Donald Caster, is an Ohio attorney engaged by the Ohio 
Innocence Project (“OIP”), an organization whose mission is to identify, 
investigate, and litigate cases in which persons may have been wrongfully 
convicted of serious crimes.  Respondent Kimberley Jacobs is Chief of the Division 
of Police (“DOP”) of respondent the city of Columbus.  Caster asserts that 
respondents have refused to provide copies of certain requested records. 
{¶ 3} As part of an independent investigation into the 2007 murder 
conviction of Adam Saleh, Caster requested the police records related to the arrest 
and investigation of Saleh.  In response, DOP made a blanket rejection of this 
request, citing State ex rel. Steckman v. Jackson, 70 Ohio St.3d 420, 639 N.E.2d 83 
(1994), which held that “information assembled by law enforcement officials with 
a probable or pending criminal proceeding is, by the work product exception found 
in R.C. 149.43(A)(2)(c), excepted from required release as said information is 
compiled in anticipation of litigation.”  Id. at 435.  DOP stated that no records would 
be produced until the “completion” of Saleh’s criminal case, even though all 
appeals had been exhausted. 
January Term, 2016 
 
3
{¶ 4} The facts underlying the records request are as follows.  In 2007, 
Saleh was convicted of the murder, kidnapping, and attempted rape of Julie 
Popovich and tampering with evidence; he was sentenced to 38 years to life in 
prison.  The Tenth District Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions.  This court 
declined jurisdiction in July 2009.  State v. Saleh, 122 Ohio St.3d 1457, 2009-Ohio-
3131, 908 N.E.2d 946.  No proceedings are currently pending regarding the 
convictions in any court, nor were they between September 2013 and the present. 
{¶ 5} OIP is engaged in an independent investigation into Saleh’s 
convictions to determine whether he was wrongly convicted.  Neither Caster nor 
OIP currently represents Saleh or any member of his family as a client.  OIP cannot 
and does not intervene in every case it reviews; rather, it intervenes in a small 
percentage of those cases, and its efforts have led to the exoneration of defendants 
in a number of cases.  OIP requests public records in some cases to determine 
whether a defendant is a candidate for its intervention and in some cases to 
determine whether other defendants may be viable alternate suspects in cases in 
which an inmate appears to have been wrongfully convicted.  OIP will determine 
whether to enter into an attorney-client relationship with Saleh only after 
determining whether there is evidence indicating that Saleh was wrongfully 
convicted. 
{¶ 6} In a letter dated September 5, 2013, OIP law-student fellows, at 
Caster’s direction, made a public-records request of DOP for “a copy of any police 
records related to the arrest and subsequent investigation” of Saleh for the crimes 
involving Popovich, including “medical records, police reports, investigation notes, 
evidence reports, and any other materials compiled by the Columbus Division of 
Police.” 
{¶ 7} DOP responded with a letter dated September 9, 2013, rejecting the 
request.  Citing R.C. 149.43(A)(1)(h), which excepts from disclosure under the 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
4
Public Records Act (“PRA”) “confidential law enforcement investigatory records” 
(sometimes called “CLEIRs”), the letter stated: 
 
CLEIRS Exception: A Public Office may withhold any 
records that pertain to a Law Enforcement matter of criminal, quasi-
criminal, civil, or administrative nature and that, if released, would 
create a high probability of disclosing any of the following types of 
information: 1.) Identity of an uncharged suspect, 2.) Identity of a 
confidential source, 3.) Investigatory techniques or procedures, 4.) 
Investigatory work product or 5.) Information that would endanger 
the life or physical safety of Law Enforcement personnel, a crime 
victim, a witness, or a confidential source.  * * * State ex rel. 
Steckman v. Jackson, 70 Ohio St.3d 420[.] 
In accordance with this section, the Columbus Division of 
Police, in co-operation with the Franklin County Prosecutor’s 
Office, will supply copies of records from this case, upon 
completion of the criminal case.  * * * Your current request for 
public record(s) has been closed and cleared in our files.  Please feel 
free to re-file your request after the criminal investigation and all 
appeals have been exhausted. 
 
(Boldface sic.) 
{¶ 8} In October 2013, Caster directed the law students to resubmit the 
public-records request, and they did so.  DOP responded the same day with a letter 
virtually identical to the one sent in September.  Again, DOP provided no records 
in response to the request. 
January Term, 2016 
 
5
{¶ 9} In November 2013, Caster himself submitted a records request to 
DOP by certified mail, explaining that there were no proceedings ongoing in 
Saleh’s case.  DOP did not respond, nor did it provide copies of any records. 
{¶ 10} Caster filed this original action in mandamus in September 2014, and 
in October of that year, DOP provided him copies of some records included in the 
investigative file, specifically the missing-person-preliminary-investigation forms, 
the Franklin County Coroner’s report, newspaper articles, a press release, and 
subpoenas.  DOP continues to assert that other requested records are excepted from 
disclosure under R.C. 149.43(A)(1) and (2)(a) through (d) and under the holdings 
of Steckman and its progeny. 
{¶ 11} Respondents have filed the affidavit of Jonathan Schirg, the 
supervisor of DOP’s public-records unit, who states that he has reviewed DOP’s 
records on the Popovich homicide investigation.  He asserts that the file contains 
confidential law-enforcement investigatory records (including confidential 
investigatory techniques, procedures, and specific investigatory work product) and 
“the personal notes, working papers, memoranda, evidentiary findings, and similar 
materials compiled by the law enforcement investigators in anticipation of criminal 
proceedings.”  According to Schirg, the file also includes FBI records and identifies 
witnesses and confidential sources, the release of which could endanger their lives 
or physical safety. 
{¶ 12} Caster has filed two supporting affidavits.  One is from Randy 
Ludlow, a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch, who attaches to his affidavit a 
newspaper article he wrote in March 2010 regarding a change in DOP’s 
interpretation of Ohio’s public-records laws.  Under the newly implemented policy, 
DOP would no longer release any police investigatory documents while murderers 
remain in prison.  Previously, the article related, investigators, journalists, and 
relatives of both the victims and the convicted person were permitted—after the 
convicted person had exhausted appeals—to obtain case records. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
6
{¶ 13} The second affidavit filed by Caster is from Martin Yant, who 
describes himself as a private investigator.  He states that “[a]t least five individuals 
[he has] assisted were exonerated, and their convictions were reversed, as a direct 
result of [his] ability to obtain criminal case files held by law enforcement agencies 
and/or prosecutors through public records requests” under R.C. 149.43. 
LAW AND ANALYSIS 
Mandamus 
{¶ 14} “Mandamus is the appropriate remedy to compel compliance with 
R.C. 149.43, Ohio’s Public Records Act.”  State ex rel. Physicians Commt. for 
Responsible Medicine v. Ohio State Univ. Bd. of Trustees, 108 Ohio St.3d 288, 
2006-Ohio-903, 843 N.E.2d 174, ¶ 6; R.C. 149.43(C)(1). 
{¶ 15} Although the PRA is accorded liberal construction in favor of access 
to public records, “the relator must still establish entitlement to the requested 
extraordinary relief by clear and convincing evidence.”  State ex rel. McCaffrey v. 
Mahoning Cty. Prosecutor’s Office, 133 Ohio St.3d 139, 2012-Ohio-4246, 976 
N.E.2d 877, ¶ 16.  In addition, unlike in other mandamus cases, “[r]elators in 
public-records cases need not establish the lack of an adequate remedy in the 
ordinary course of law.”  State ex rel. Data Trace Information Servs., L.L.C. v. 
Cuyahoga Cty. Fiscal Officer, 131 Ohio St.3d 255, 2012-Ohio-753, 963 N.E.2d 
1288, ¶ 25. 
{¶ 16} Therefore, Caster has correctly filed an original action in mandamus 
to challenge DOP’s refusal to produce documents that he asserts are public records. 
Specific Investigatory Work Product 
{¶ 17} OPD claims that the records Caster seeks are excepted from 
mandatory disclosure under R.C. 149.43(A)(1)(h) as confidential law-enforcement 
investigatory records.  R.C. 149.43(A)(2) defines that term: 
 
January Term, 2016 
 
7
“Confidential law enforcement investigatory record” means 
any record that pertains to a law enforcement matter of a criminal, 
quasi-criminal, civil, or administrative nature, but only to the extent 
that the release of the record would create a high probability of 
disclosure of any of the following: 
(a) The identity of a suspect who has not been charged with 
the offense to which the record pertains, or of an information source 
or witness to whom confidentiality has been reasonably promised; 
(b) Information provided by an information source or 
witness to whom confidentiality has been reasonably promised, 
which information would reasonably tend to disclose the source’s or 
witness’s identity; 
(c) Specific confidential investigatory techniques or 
procedures or specific investigatory work product; 
(d) Information that would endanger the life or physical 
safety of law enforcement personnel, a crime victim, a witness, or a 
confidential information source. 
 
{¶ 18} Citing this court’s decision in Steckman, DOP refused to provide 
copies of the records Caster sought until “completion of the criminal case,” inviting 
Caster to refile his request “after the criminal investigation and all appeals have 
been exhausted.”  The facts of this case raise the issue that DOP’s response letters 
did not attempt to answer:  How long must a convicted defendant or a member of 
the public wait? 
{¶ 19} We deal in this case primarily with records excepted from disclosure 
pursuant 
to 
the 
specific-investigatory-work-product 
exception 
in 
R.C. 
149.43(A)(2)(c), which, pursuant to this court’s decision in Steckman, provides a 
broad exclusion from the reach of the PRA; it includes “information assembled by 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
8
law enforcement officials in connection with a probable or pending criminal 
proceeding.”  Steckman, 70 Ohio St.3d at 435, 639 N.E.2d 83.  In Steckman, this 
court held that records excepted from disclosure pursuant to R.C. 149.43(A)(2)(c) 
remain unavailable to a defendant in a criminal case who has exhausted the direct 
appeals of his or her conviction and seeks to employ R.C. 149.43 to pursue 
postconviction relief.  Id. at 437.  In State ex rel. WLWT-TV5 v. Leis, 77 Ohio St.3d 
357, 360, 673 N.E.2d 1365 (1997), a case in which a television station sought 
investigatory work product following the convictions of two individuals, this court 
held that there can be no disclosure of such material “until all proceedings are fully 
completed.” 
{¶ 20} Caster cites Perry v. Onunwor, 8th Dist. Cuyahoga No. 78398, 2000 
WL 1871753 (Dec. 7, 2000), as a case that demonstrates the practical aspects of the 
denial of access to records until “all proceedings” are complete.  In Perry, a public-
records mandamus action, the relator sought police records, investigative reports, 
witness statements, evidentiary reports, and scientific reports in relation to a 
criminal case in which the defendant had been convicted a number of years before.  
Id. at *2.  The court held that “the confidential law enforcement investigatory 
records remain exempt from disclosure” as long as “the possibility of further 
proceedings and trials remain.”  Id. at *3.  The court listed the numerous possible 
further proceedings that might occur even after a defendant’s direct appeal is 
complete—“a postconviction relief petition, a motion to withdraw guilty plea, a 
motion for new trial based on newly discovered evidence, a new trial from a 
reversal on a successful application to reopen pursuant to App.R. 26(B), and federal 
habeas corpus proceedings.”  Id.  These potentialities, actions not in process nor 
necessarily intended to be pursued by the defendant in that case, prevented the 
release of the records sought.  The court in Perry set forth the cold but logical 
conclusion: “[A]bsent proof that no further proceedings are possible, e.g., the 
defendant’s death perhaps, a custodian of confidential law enforcement 
January Term, 2016 
 
9
investigatory records is under no duty to disclose them.”  Id.  That is, a defendant 
or member of the public can access potentially exonerating material concerning a 
defendant only after the defendant is dead.  How did we get to this point? 
Steckman 
{¶ 21} In Steckman, this court sought to bring order to a system of criminal 
discovery it considered broken.  The court took the “opportunity to meet head-on 
the continuing and ever-increasing problem of the use (and attempted use) of R.C. 
149.43 (public records law) as a vehicle to obtain records from law enforcement 
officials and the contents of the files of prosecutors in pending criminal cases.”  
Steckman, 70 Ohio St.3d at 421, 639 N.E.2d 83. 
{¶ 22} The court noted that criminal defendants were seeking records 
through public-records requests that they could not procure through Crim.R. 16 
discovery as the rule existed at that time.  Id. at 428.  This led to difficulty in the 
lower courts, as both appellate and trial courts faced, “almost daily, demands of 
criminal defendants for production of records.”  Id. at 421.  This court consolidated 
three cases in order to address the wide-ranging problems and to “bring some order 
out of the confusion.”  Id. at 422. 
{¶ 23} The nature of former Crim.R. 16 was the source of many of the 
problems.  This court recognized that “the rule does not provide for what is often 
called ‘full,’ ‘complete’ or ‘open file’ discovery.”  (Emphasis sic.)  Id. at 428.  This 
led those seeking information to search for different means: “In order to avoid the 
results of Crim.R. 16, some defendants (more and more we find) are resorting to 
the use of R.C. 149.43 to, we believe, obtain information to which they are not 
entitled under Crim.R. 16 and (and we emphasize) to bring about interminable 
delay in their criminal prosecutions.”  (Emphasis sic.)  Id.  This court noted that 
most death-penalty cases “routinely” included a public-records request that would 
add up to two years to the final determination of those cases.  Id.  There were other 
concerns: 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
10 
 
The playing field is not level as there is no reciprocal right of 
prosecutors to obtain additional discovery beyond Crim.R. 16(C).  
Witness intimidation is now more real than imagined.  Criminal 
trials are now regularly being disrupted while R.C. 149.43 
procedures are pursued.  It would seem that the people also have a 
right to a speedy trial—a speedy trial of an indicted defendant.  Trial 
courts, courts of appeals and this court are consuming tremendous 
time and resources to review, in some cases, boxes and boxes full of 
records alleged to be public.  Much of the information being 
reviewed is detrimental to the defendant, which raises yet another 
problem—how can a trial judge and appellate judges, who become 
familiar with such information, fairly judge a defendant when they 
have reviewed information that may not ever be admitted or even 
admissible as evidence?  Last, but not least, are the speedy trial 
issues raised by defendants when it is the state appealing an order to 
release documents. 
 
(Emphasis sic.)  Id. at 428–429. 
{¶ 24} In response to this state of affairs, this court held that “in the criminal 
proceeding itself, a defendant may use only Crim.R. 16 to obtain discovery.”  Id. at 
429.  Believing that prior decisions of this court had “hamstrung the proper 
administration of justice,” this court also set out to “draw some bright lines in cases 
which involve the use of R.C. 149.43 by any person seeking release of records in 
pending criminal proceedings.”  (Emphasis sic.)  Id. 
{¶ 25} One area where the court chose to draw a bright line was in regard 
to the specific-investigatory-work-product exception in R.C. 149.43(A)(2)(c).  The 
court in Steckman criticized earlier opinions of this court that had narrowed the 
January Term, 2016 
 
11 
exception, including State ex rel. Natl. Broadcasting Co., Inc. v. Cleveland, 38 Ohio 
St.3d 79, 526 N.E.2d 786 (1988), in which the court held that “[t]he specific 
investigatory work product exception, R.C. 149.43(A)(2)(c), protects an 
investigator’s deliberative and subjective analysis, his interpretation of the facts, 
his theory of the case, and his investigative plans.  The exception does not 
encompass the objective facts and observations he has recorded.”  Natl. 
Broadcasting Co. at paragraph three of the syllabus.  See Steckman, 70 Ohio St.3d 
at 433–434, 639 N.E.2d 83. 
{¶ 26} This court in Steckman related that that holding and similar ones 
from other cases had led to an increase in demands to courts and record keepers “to 
release the entire contents of a prosecutor’s file and all the records accumulated and 
maintained by a police department in connection with a particular defendant and 
his or her criminal proceeding.”  (Emphasis sic.)  Id. at 431.  This court opined that 
because of those cases, “the exceptions to required disclosure found in R.C. 
149.43(A)(2)(c)—‘specific 
investigatory 
work 
product’—and 
R.C. 
149.43(A)(4)—‘trial 
preparation 
record’—have 
virtually 
been 
rendered 
meaningless.  Additionally, these cases have, for all practical purposes, just about 
written Rule 16 out of the Criminal Rules.”  Id.  The court stated its intention to 
resolve the issue: “Simply put, this chaos cannot be permitted to continue.”  Id. 
{¶ 27} In addressing the confidential-law-enforcement-investigatory-
record exception in R.C. 149.43(A)(2), and specifically, the “specific investigatory 
work product” exception in R.C. 149.43(A)(2)(c), the court in Steckman expanded 
the definition of work product, and it narrowed the kinds of records available as 
public records.  This court found that it had never satisfactorily defined the term 
“work product”—which is undefined in R.C. 149.43—for purposes of R.C. 
149.43(A)(2)(c).  Id. at 434.  The court then looked to the United States Supreme 
Court’s decision in Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495, 67 S.Ct. 385, 91 L.Ed. 451 
(1947), which addressed work-product privilege in the context of the attorney-
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
12 
client relationship.  This court concentrated on the policy reasons behind work 
product discussed in Hickman, in which the United Stated States Supreme Court 
“indicated that proper preparation of a client’s case requires that information be 
gathered, assembled and sorted and that theories of the case be prepared and 
strategy be planned ‘without undue and needless interference.’ ”  Steckman at 434, 
quoting Hickman at 511.  This court also noted that allowing others to view the 
work product of an investigation could affect the quality of that investigation: 
 
If the product of such work is to be available merely upon demand, 
then there is a very real probability that certain information will 
remain unrecorded, witnesses’ names will not be catalogued and 
other memoranda will be absent from the “official” files.  We should 
not, by our rulings, create a situation where there is an incentive to 
engage in such conduct. 
 
Steckman at 434. 
{¶ 28} This court applied a definition of the work-product rule to the 
“specific investigatory work product” exception in R.C. 149.43(A)(2)(c): 
 
[W]ith regard to records assembled by law enforcement officials 
(including prosecutors), we now subscribe to Black’s definition of 
“work product rule.”  “Under this rule any notes, working papers, 
memoranda or similar materials, prepared by attorneys [here, by law 
enforcement officials] in anticipation of litigation, are protected 
from discovery.”  Black’s Law Dictionary (6 Ed.Rev.1990) 1606.  
This definition (working papers) is broad enough to bring under its 
umbrella any records compiled by law enforcement officials. 
 
January Term, 2016 
 
13 
(Bracketed text sic.)  Steckman, 70 Ohio St.3d at 434, 639 N.E.2d 83. 
{¶ 29} This court thus found that except for material required to be 
produced to a defendant pursuant to former Crim.R. 16, “information assembled by 
law enforcement officials in connection with a probable or pending criminal 
proceeding is, by the work-product exception found in R.C. 149.43(A)(2)(c), 
excepted from required release as said information is compiled in anticipation of 
litigation.”  Steckman at 435.  Not included within the exception were “routine 
offense and incident reports.”  Id. 
{¶ 30} The extension of the investigatory-work-product exception beyond 
the completion of the trial finds its roots in Steckman’s discussion of the trial-
preparation-record exception of R.C. 149.43(A)(1)(g).  R.C. 149.43(A)(4) defines 
trial preparation record and reads: “ ‘Trial preparation record’ means any record 
that contains information that is specifically compiled in reasonable anticipation of, 
or in defense of, a civil or criminal action or proceeding, including the independent 
thought processes and personal trial preparation of an attorney.”  The court wrote 
that “[i]t is difficult to conceive of anything in a prosecutor’s file, in a pending 
criminal matter, that would not be either material compiled in anticipation of a 
specific criminal proceeding or the personal trial preparation of the prosecutor.”  
Steckman at 431–432.  The court concluded: 
 
Therefore, we now hold that information, not subject to 
discovery pursuant to Crim.R. 16(B), contained in the file of a 
prosecutor who is prosecuting a criminal matter, is not subject to 
release as a public record pursuant to R.C. 149.43 and is specifically 
exempt from release as a trial preparation record in accordance with 
R.C. 149.43(A)(4). 
Id. at 432. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
14 
{¶ 31} This court then discussed how long records remain exempt under 
R.C. 149.43(A)(4) in light of that statue’s definition of “trial preparation record” as 
a record “compiled in reasonable anticipation of, or in defense of, a civil or criminal 
action or proceeding.”  This court looked to the definitions of “trial,” “action,” and 
“proceeding,” in Black’s Law Dictionary and found that among the definitions, 
there was no distinction made between an initial court proceeding, direct appeals, 
and postconviction relief.  Steckman, 70 Ohio St.3d at 432, 639 N.E.2d 83.  This 
court then held that “once a record becomes exempt from release as a ‘trial 
preparation record,’ that record does not lose its exempt status unless and until all 
‘trials,’ ‘actions’ and/or ‘proceedings’ have been fully completed.”  Id. 
{¶ 32} The court acknowledged that that holding “may seem harsh” but 
stated that the holding was “not without good reason.”  Id.  That reason was that a 
person convicted of a crime should not have available to him or her in 
postconviction proceedings any more evidence than would have been available to 
him or her pursuant to former Crim.R. 16 at the original trial: 
 
[W]e still are faced with the situation in which a defendant in a 
criminal case might be granted a new trial, on his or her petition for 
postconviction relief.  Since the possibility of retrial remains, the 
defendant, who has obtained records during postconviction 
proceedings, would have on retrial more information than she or he 
would be entitled to possess if limited to discovery pursuant to 
Crim.R. 16.  This, of course, could present (at best) an anomalous 
result. 
 
Steckman at 432. 
{¶ 33} This court did not explicitly hold in Steckman that the specific-
investigatory-work-product exception extends beyond the completion of the trial.  
January Term, 2016 
 
15 
But that was the clear implication when this court held that the records sought by 
Ronald Larkins—the defendant in one of the consolidated cases before it—were 
exempt from disclosure based on R.C. 149.43(A)(2)(c).  The court concluded in 
resolving Larkins’s case that “a defendant in a criminal case who has exhausted the 
direct appeals of her or his conviction may not avail herself or himself of R.C. 
149.43 to support a petition for postconviction relief.”  Id. at 437 and at paragraph 
six of the syllabus. 
{¶ 34} This court a few years later explicitly held that the specific-
investigatory-work-product exception applies beyond the completion of direct 
appeals in State ex rel. WLWT-TV5, 77 Ohio St.3d 357, 673 N.E.2d 1365.  This 
court adopted the Steckman reasoning regarding trial-preparation records in holding 
that “[a]nalogously, once applicable, the records continue to be exempt work 
product until all proceedings are fully completed.”  WLWT-TV5 at 360, citing 
Steckman at 437.  The court once again acknowledged the harshness of the holding, 
but reiterated Steckman’s reasoning that a defendant who is granted a new trial on 
his or her postconviction petition should not be entitled to information on retrial 
that he or she could not obtain though Crim.R.16 discovery.  WLWT-TV5 at 360, 
citing Steckman at 432. 
Changes to Crim.R. 16 
{¶ 35} The central reason stated in Steckman and WLWT-TV5 justifying the 
admittedly harsh holding extending the specific-investigatory-work-product 
exception until all proceedings are fully completed was the seeming disparity 
between the information a defendant could obtain to use at retrial compared to what 
the defendant could obtain through discovery under former Crim.R. 16. 
{¶ 36} This court reasoned—after declaring that only Crim.R. 16 could be 
used for discovery in a pending criminal matter—that a person convicted of a crime 
but granted a retrial should not have available to him or her any more evidence than 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
16 
what was available at the original trial pursuant to former Crim.R. 16.  Steckman, 
70 Ohio St.3d at 429, 432, 639 N.E.2d 83; see also WLWT-TV5 at 360. 
{¶ 37} But Crim.R. 16 has changed significantly since it was described in 
Steckman as not providing “ ‘full,’ ‘complete’ or ‘open file’ discovery.”  Steckman 
at 428.  On July 1, 2010, Ohio’s sweeping reform of Crim.R. 16 went into effect.  
Developed collaboratively by the criminal-defense bar and prosecutors, the purpose 
of the revisions “is to provide for a just determination of criminal proceedings and 
to secure the fair, impartial, and speedy administration of justice through the 
expanded scope of materials to be exchanged between the parties.”  2010 Staff Note 
to Crim.R. 16(A).  The new rule “expands the State’s duty to disclose materials and 
information beyond what was required under the prior rule.”  2010 Staff Note to 
Crim.R. 16(B).  For instance, upon a defendant’s written demand, the state must 
generally provide, prior to trial, “[a]ny written or recorded statement by a witness 
in the state’s case-in-chief, or that it reasonably anticipates calling as a witness in 
rebuttal,” Crim.R. 16(B)(7), as well as “[a]ll reports from peace officers, the Ohio 
State Highway Patrol, and federal law enforcement agents,” Crim.R. 16(B)(6).  
These are two significant changes that provide defendants much more information 
prior to trial than under former Crim.R. 16. 
{¶ 38} Further, pursuant to this court’s decision in State v. Athon, 136 Ohio 
St.3d 43, 2013-Ohio-1956, 989 N.E.2d 1006, paragraph three of the syllabus, when 
an accused seeks information about his or her case through a public-records request, 
“that public records request is the equivalent of a demand for discovery, and a 
reciprocal duty of disclosure arises in accordance with Crim.R. 16.”  That holding 
led to an amendment to Crim.R. 16(H), which now includes the sentence, “A public 
records request made by the defendant, directly or indirectly, shall be treated as a 
demand for discovery in a criminal case if, and only if, the request is made to an 
agency involved in the prosecution or investigation of that case.”  See 2016 Staff 
Note to Crim.R. 16. 
January Term, 2016 
 
17 
{¶ 39} Thus, changes to Crim.R. 16 have minimized any perceived 
advantage a defendant could gain on retrial through the use of a public-records 
request. 
Revisiting Steckman and WLWT-TV5 
{¶ 40} “R.C. 149.43 is to be construed liberally in favor of broad access, 
and any doubt is to be resolved in favor of disclosure of public records.”  State ex 
rel. Gannett Satellite Information Network v. Shirey, 78 Ohio St.3d 400, 401, 678 
N.E.2d 557 (1997).  We look to R.C. 149.43(A)(2)(c) to see whether it requires that 
the specific-investigatory-work-product exception extend beyond the trial of the 
case.  Nothing in the statute itself suggests that the exception should last beyond 
the original trial. 
{¶ 41} This court’s prior jurisprudence in this area was based on 
expedience—the idea that a defendant should not be able to have more information 
on retrial than he or she could have gained through Crim.R. 16 discovery for the 
original trial.  Steckman, 70 Ohio St.3d at 432, 639 N.E.2d 83; WLWT-TV5, 77 Ohio 
St.3d at 360, 673 N.E.2d 1365.  The reworking of Crim.R. 16 has allayed those 
concerns. 
{¶ 42} We should also be concerned with the interests of justice.  Ronald 
Larkins was one of the appellants in the consolidated cases in Steckman.  He had 
been convicted of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, and attempted murder.  
His convictions and sentence were affirmed on appeal.  Steckman at 422–423. 
{¶ 43} Larkins sought from Cleveland’s police chief, through an action in 
mandamus, the investigatory records of the crimes for which he was convicted.  Id. 
at 437.  In Steckman, this court held that the records he sought were “exempt from 
disclosure based upon the work product exception of R.C. 149.43(A)(2)(c)” and 
that as a person who had exhausted his direct appeals, he could not use R.C. 149.43 
“to support a petition for postconviction relief.”  Id. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
18 
{¶ 44} But Larkins’s case did not end with Steckman.  Another person filed 
a public-records request for the records Larkins had sought; for unknown reasons, 
police turned over the records to that person, who forwarded them to Larkins.  State 
v. Larkins, 8th Dist. Cuyahoga No. 85877, 2006-Ohio-90, ¶ 6.  Based on the 
contents of the records, Larkins filed a motion for a new trial on the grounds that 
the state had withheld exculpatory evidence.  The trial court granted the motion, the 
court of appeals affirmed, and the case returned to the trial court.  Id. at ¶ 7.  Larkins 
then moved the trial court to dismiss the indictment, and the court granted the 
motion.  Id. at ¶ 8.  The trial court wrote: 
 
“Finally, and perhaps most importantly to this Court, the 
defendant has been trying at least since 1994 to obtain the 
exculpatory evidence in possession of the State.  * * * 
“The issue hence becomes: when the State purposely secrets 
exculpatory evidence from a defendant resulting in a ‘verdict 
unworthy of confidence’ and then actively seeks to conceal that 
evidence for a period of years, and as a result numerous witnesses 
are deceased or unable-to-be-located, is dismissal the appropriate 
remedy?  * * * 
 “It is clear that the passage of time has gravely prejudiced 
the defendant.  Whether this is denominated as a Speedy Trial 
Violation, a Due Process Violation, a Brady Violation, or a double 
jeopardy issue, the fact clearly remains that the defendant cannot 
now in 2004-2005, receive the fair trial to which he is entitled.” 
 
Larkins at ¶ 11–13, quoting the trial court’s decision. 
{¶ 45} The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of the 
indictment.  Id. at ¶ 52.  This court declined to accept the state’s appeal on June 7, 
January Term, 2016 
 
19 
2006.  State v. Larkins, 109 Ohio St.3d 1495, 2006-Ohio-2762, 848 N.E.2d 858.  
Nearly a dozen years had passed since Steckman was decided. 
{¶ 46} Larkins gained access to the records that led to the dismissal of his 
indictment only through an act of bureaucratic grace.  Or a bureaucratic mistake.  
Whichever the case, a clear rule would be better and is necessary. 
{¶ 47} Because the PRA should be construed liberally to provide broad 
access, because the revisions to Crim.R. 16 have leveled the disparity between 
information available through the PRA and through Crim.R. 16 discovery, and in 
the interests of justice, we hold that the specific-investigatory-work-product 
exception of R.C. 149.43(A)(2)(c) does not extend beyond the completion of the 
trial for which the information was gathered.  To the extent that they hold otherwise, 
State ex rel. Steckman v. Jackson, 70 Ohio St.3d 420, 639 N.E.2d 83, and State ex 
rel. WLWT-TV5 v. Leis, 77 Ohio St.3d 357, 673 N.E.2d 1365, are overruled. 
Writ granted 
{¶ 48} Accordingly, we grant the writ.  Respondents should have produced 
to Caster all the records that were withheld based on respondents’ claim that the 
records constituted specific investigatory work product pursuant to R.C. 
149.43(A)(2)(c), because Saleh’s original trial had long been completed.  It should 
be noted that we order the production of those records that were withheld based on 
the specific-investigatory-work-product exception; other CLEIR exceptions under 
R.C. 149.43(A)(2)—as long as the conditions justifying those exceptions still 
exist—may require the withholding of some records or parts of some records.  Thus, 
DOP need not produce records that would create a high probability of disclosure of 
“[t]he identity of a suspect who has not been charged with the offense to which the 
record pertains, or of an information source or witness to whom confidentiality has 
been reasonably promised,” pursuant to R.C. 149.43(A)(2)(a); “[i]nformation 
provided by an information source or witness to whom confidentiality has been 
reasonably promised, which information would reasonably tend to disclose the 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
20 
source’s or witness’s identity,” pursuant to R.C. 149.43(A)(2)(b); “[s]pecific 
confidential investigatory techniques or procedures,” pursuant to R.C. 
149.43(A)(2)(c); or “[i]nformation that would endanger the life or physical safety 
of law enforcement personnel, a crime victim, a witness, or a confidential 
information source,” pursuant to R.C. 149.43(A)(2)(d).  Moreover, as Caster 
concedes, redactions to remove information regarding matters such as Social 
Security numbers would be appropriate in the same way that they are appropriate 
in any public-records case. 
Attorney fees, statutory damages, and court costs 
{¶ 49} We now consider Caster’s request for attorney fees, statutory 
damages, and court costs.  Former R.C. 149.43(C)(2), 2013 Am.Sub.H.B. No. 59, 
addresses the awarding of attorney fees in public-records cases and governs our 
analysis here.  Pursuant to former R.C. 149.43(C)(2)(b)(i) the court shall award 
attorney fees when the person responsible for public records “failed to respond 
affirmatively or negatively to the public records request” within a reasonable 
amount of time.  Here, DOP failed to respond to Caster’s November 20, 2013 
public-records request.  However, Caster made it known in the November request 
that the September 5, 2013 request by the OIP fellows had been made at Caster’s 
direction.  We also note that DOP had responded to the OIP fellows’ October 31, 
2013 request.  This court has held that a reiterated request for the same records does 
not require an additional response.  State ex rel. Laborers Internatl. Union of N. 
Am., Local Union No. 500 v. Summerville, 122 Ohio St. 3d 1234, 2009-Ohio-4090, 
913 N.E.2d 452, ¶ 6. 
{¶ 50} But in this case, Caster’s November 20, 2013 request was 
sufficiently different to constitute a new request.  The letter was responsive to 
DOP’s earlier refusals.  Caster pointed out deficiencies in the prior DOP 
responses—DOP had simply issued a blanket denial and had not set forth which of 
the four categories of confidential law-enforcement investigatory records it 
January Term, 2016 
 
21 
specifically applied to deny the requests.  And Caster added the information that 
Saleh’s criminal case was complete, that Saleh’s direct-appeal process had 
concluded, and that there were no pending collateral attacks on the conviction, in 
response to DOP’s earlier advisements that the request should be refiled upon 
completion of the criminal case. 
{¶ 51} Since DOP failed to respond to the November 20, 2013 public-
records request, an award of attorney fees is mandatory.  Pursuant to former R.C. 
149.43(C)(2)(c), 2013 Am.Sub.H.B. No. 59, the court “may reduce an award of 
attorney’s fees to the relator or not award attorney’s fees to the relator” upon 
application of the factors in former R.C. 149.43(C)(2)(c)(i) and (ii), but we decline 
to do so. 
{¶ 52} Because Caster transmitted his request for public records by certified 
mail, he is entitled to statutory damages pursuant to former R.C. 149.43(C)(1), 2013 
Am.Sub.H.B. No. 59.  Because of the failure of DOP to provide some records—
missing-person-preliminary-investigation forms, the coroner’s report, newspaper 
articles, a press release, and subpoenas—that were clearly public records, the 
mitigating factors in former R.C. 149.43(C)(1)(a) and (b) are not applicable, so we 
award Caster statutory damages.  In this situation, Caster is entitled to $1,000, the 
maximum amount of statutory damages stated in former R.C. 149.43(C)(1). 
{¶ 53} Finally, because this court issues a writ of mandamus ordering 
respondents to comply with Caster’s public-records request, we award Caster court 
costs pursuant to former R.C. 149.43(C)(2)(a), 2013 Am.Sub.H.B. No. 59.  Caster 
shall provide the court with an itemized application for reasonable attorney fees 
and costs to be awarded pursuant to R.C. 149.43(C). 
CONCLUSION 
{¶ 54} We hold that Caster had a clear legal right to the requested records 
and that respondents had a clear legal duty to provide the records in accordance 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
22 
with R.C. 149.43(B)(1).  We grant Caster’s request for attorney fees, statutory 
damages, and court costs. 
Judgment accordingly. 
KENNEDY, FRENCH, and O’NEILL, JJ., concur. 
O’CONNOR, C.J., concurs in part and dissents in part, with an opinion joined 
by LANZINGER, J. 
O’DONNELL, J., dissents and would not overrule any portion of State ex rel. 
Steckman v. Jackson, 70 Ohio St.3d 420, 639 N.E.2d 83 (1994). 
_________________ 
 
O’CONNOR, C.J., concurring in part and dissenting in part. 
{¶ 55} The Columbus Division of Police (“CDP”) has an obligation under 
Ohio law to individually review the records that relator, Donald Caster, requested, 
including “medical records, police reports, investigation notes, evidence reports, 
and any other materials compiled by the Columbus Division of Police,” to 
determine which, if any, are subject to disclosure.  Accordingly, I would grant the 
writ and require CDP to make available all public records in its files that meet 
relator’s request. 
{¶ 56} However, as detailed below, I dissent from the majority opinion to 
the extent that it orders CDP to produce “all the records that were withheld based 
on respondents’ claim that the records constituted specific investigatory work 
product.”  Majority opinion at ¶ 48.  I also dissent from the majority’s decision to 
overrule State ex rel. Steckman v. Jackson, 70 Ohio St.3d 420, 639 N.E.2d 83 
(1994), and State ex rel. WLWT-TV5 v. Leis, 77 Ohio St.3d 357, 673 N.E.2d 1365 
(1997), to the extent that those cases hold that the specific-investigatory-work-
product exception of R.C. 149.43(A)(2)(c) extends beyond the completion of the 
trial for which the information was gathered.  Instead, I would modify Steckman’s 
definition of the specific-investigatory-work-product exception. 
 
 
January Term, 2016 
 
23 
Breadth of Work-Product Exception 
{¶ 57} I dissent from the majority’s order to CDP to produce “all the records 
that were withheld based on respondents’ claim that the records constituted specific 
investigatory work product.”  Majority opinion at ¶ 48. 
{¶ 58} The Public Records Act, R.C. 149.43, excepts from disclosure 
confidential law-enforcement investigatory records that would disclose “specific 
investigatory work product.”  R.C. 149.43(A)(2)(c).  In our early case law 
interpreting “specific investigatory work product,” we narrowly construed the term.  
In State ex rel. Beacon Journal Publishing Co. v. Univ. of Akron, 64 Ohio St.2d 
392, 415 N.E.2d 310 (1980), we found that the specific-investigatory-work-product 
exception did not protect two reports from disclosure.  Id. at 397-398.  The 
University of Akron’s security department had compiled the two reports: one 
related to the alleged rape of a student and the other recounted the student’s death 
and surrounding circumstances.  Id. at 392-393.  And in State ex rel. Natl. 
Broadcasting Co., Inc. v. Cleveland, 38 Ohio St.3d 79, 526 N.E.2d 786 (1988), we 
stated: 
 
Specific investigatory work product can best be defined as 
material that demonstrably contains or reveals the theories, mental 
impressions, and thought processes of the investigator.  This 
definition is consistent with this court’s philosophy that “* * * 
exceptions to disclosure enumerated in R.C. 149.43 are to be 
construed strictly against the custodian of public records and that 
all doubt should be resolved in favor of this disclosure.” 
 
(Ellipses sic.)  Id. at 84, quoting State ex rel. Plain Dealer Publishing Co. v. Lesak, 
9 Ohio St.3d 1, 4, 457 N.E.2d 821 (1984) (Celebrezze, C.J., concurring). 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
24 
{¶ 59} However, we reached a turning point in Steckman and repudiated 
these earlier cases and others that allowed for broad disclosure of law-enforcement 
investigatory files under the Public Records Act.  Specifically, in Steckman, the 
court was concerned that the Public Records Act allowed for broader access to 
records than the version of Crim.R. 16 in place at the time allowed and that 
defendants were using the Public Records Act to “obtain information to which they 
[were] not entitled under Crim.R. 16 and * * * to bring about interminable delay in 
their criminal prosecutions.”  (Emphasis sic.)  Id., 70 Ohio St.3d at 428, 639 N.E.2d 
83.  Providing broad access to investigatory files under the Public Records Act, we 
determined, created a “playing field [that] is not level as there is no reciprocal right 
of prosecutors to obtain additional discovery beyond” Crim. R. 16(C).  Id. at 428-
29.  We concluded that if law-enforcement work product “is to be available merely 
upon demand, then there is a very real probability that certain information will 
remain unrecorded, witnesses’ names will not be catalogued and other memoranda 
will be absent from the ‘official’ files.”  Id. at 434.  With that concern in mind, we 
found that the work-product exception, as we explained it, “is broad enough to bring 
under its umbrella any records compiled by law enforcement officials,” id., 
although we specifically found that the “exception does not include ongoing routine 
offense and incident reports,” id. at 435. 
{¶ 60} Today, to the extent that Steckman and its progeny relied on 
Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495, 67 S.Ct. 385, 91 L.Ed. 451 (1947), to broadly 
define the work-product exception such that only “routine offense and incident 
reports,” must be disclosed, Steckman at paragraph five of the syllabus, I would 
modify the definition based on the 2010 revisions to Crim.R. 16 that vastly 
expanded the discovery of records in criminal cases.  The current version of 
Crim.R. 16 requires, under certain conditions and subject to certain specific 
exceptions, a prosecuting attorney to provide broad discovery to a defendant, 
including the following materials: 
January Term, 2016 
 
25 
 
(1) Any written or recorded statement by the defendant 
or a co-defendant, including police summaries of such 
statements, and including grand jury testimony by either the 
defendant or co-defendant; 
* * * 
(3) * * * [A]ll laboratory or hospital reports, books, 
papers, documents, photographs, tangible objects, buildings, or 
places; 
(4) * * * [R]esults of physical or mental examinations, 
experiments or scientific tests; 
(5) Any evidence favorable to the defendant and material 
to guilt or punishment; 
(6) All reports from peace officers, the Ohio State 
Highway Patrol, and federal law enforcement agents, provided 
however, that a document prepared by a person other than the 
witness testifying will not be considered to be the witness’s prior 
statement for purposes of the cross examination of that particular 
witness under the Rules of Evidence unless explicitly adopted 
by the witness; 
(7) Any written or recorded statement by a witness in the 
state’s case-in-chief, or that it reasonably anticipates calling as a 
witness in rebuttal. 
 
Crim.R. 16(B). 
{¶ 61} With the move toward open-file discovery, Crim.R. 16 now 
obligates prosecuting attorneys to turn over much of the investigatory files to 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
26 
defendants.  Accordingly, our concern in Steckman that a public-records request 
would incentivize shoddy investigatory techniques is no longer overriding. 
{¶ 62} But, in advocating that the fifth paragraph of the Steckman syllabus 
should be modified, I cannot agree with the majority that all of the specific 
investigatory work product in the investigatory file should be available unless it is 
subject to one of the other narrow exceptions to disclosure of confidential law-
enforcement investigatory records.  Even Crim.R. 16 does not allow for access to 
all of a law-enforcement department’s case files.  Importantly, “[t]he prosecuting 
attorney may designate any material subject to disclosure under this rule as ‘counsel 
only’ by stamping a prominent notice on each page or thing so designated.”  
Crim.R. 16(C).  The prosecuting attorney is also permitted to withhold documents 
when there are “reasonable, articulable grounds to believe that disclosure will  
* * * subject [a witness, victim, or third party] to intimidation or coercion * * * [or] 
to a substantial risk of serious economic harm,” Crim.R. 16(D)(1) and (2), or if 
“[d]isclosure will compromise * * * a confidential law enforcement technique,” 
Crim.R. 16(D)(3).  And “materials subject to the work product protection” are not 
subject to disclosure at all, including “reports, memoranda, or other internal 
documents made by the prosecuting attorney” and his or her agents.”  Crim.R. 
16(J)(1).  The majority opens the door for disclosure well beyond what even 
Crim.R. 16 requires, and it does so without any of the safeguards that the rule and 
R.C. 149.43(A)(2) put in place. 
{¶ 63} Recognizing that the concern we described in Steckman no longer 
exists given the modifications to Crim.R. 16 but that there must be some standard 
to identify “specific investigatory work product,” I would limit the term as we did 
in Beacon Journal Publishing Co. and Natl. Broadcasting Co., subjecting facts to 
disclosure as public records while protecting the theories, mental impressions, and 
thought processes of the investigator as specific investigatory work product.  Put 
another way, I would analogize the specific investigatory work product of law 
January Term, 2016 
 
27 
enforcement to the opinion work product in our attorney-work-product 
jurisprudence.  Opinion work product includes “mental impressions, theories, and 
legal conclusions.”  Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, L.L.P. v. Givaudan Flavors Corp., 
127 Ohio St.3d 161, 2010-Ohio-4469, 937 N.E.2d 533, ¶ 60. 
{¶ 64} In further explanation, again borrowing from the parlance of 
attorney-work-product jurisprudence, “specific investigatory work product” does 
not include the law-enforcement equivalent of fact work product.  Citing Hickman, 
329 U.S. at 510-511, 67 S.Ct. 385, 91 L.Ed.2d 451, the United States Court of 
Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has referred to fact work product as “written or oral 
information transmitted to the attorney and recorded as conveyed by the client.”  In 
re Antitrust Grand Jury, 805 F.2d 155, 163 (6th Cir.1986).  Appellate courts in 
Ohio have described witness statements and underlying facts as fact work product.  
Jerome v. A-Best Products Co., 8th Dist. Cuyahoga Nos. 79139, 79140, 79141, and 
79142, 2002-Ohio-1824, ¶ 21.  See also Jackson v. Gregor, 160 Ohio App.3d 258, 
2005-Ohio-1588, 826 N.E.2d 900, ¶ 34 (2d Dist.); Fowler v. Coleman, 10th Dist. 
Franklin No. 04AP-248, 2005-Ohio-1518, ¶ 28. 
{¶ 65} This distinction would give effect to the “specific investigatory” 
modifier in R.C. 149.43(A)(2)(c), the influence of which we largely abolished in 
Steckman.  The specific-investigatory-work-product exception should entitle law-
enforcement officers to protect their theories, impressions, and strategies, as may 
be set forth, for instance, in interview notes, memos to the file, or to-do lists.  But 
members of the public should be able to request access to facts uncovered during 
the investigation, for instance witness statements, but with identifying information 
about the witness redacted to the extent the information suggests law-enforcement 
strategy or falls within another confidential-law-enforcement-investigatory-record 
exception.  A law-enforcement department must examine a file and individually 
determine which materials are routine or factual and which disclose confidential 
law-enforcement investigatory records, including specific investigatory work 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
28 
product, based on the Public Records Act.  The decision is subject to in camera 
review when challenged. 
Duration of Exception 
{¶ 66} I also dissent from the majority’s decision to overrule Steckman and 
WLWT-TV5 to the extent that those cases held that the specific-investigatory-work-
product exception of R.C. 149.43(A)(2)(c) extends beyond the completion of the 
trial for which the information is gathered.  While I agree that protecting trial-
preparation records that are part of a law-enforcement file is unnecessary following 
exhaustion of the defendant’s direct appeals or the decision not to prosecute, that is 
not true for the information that R.C. 149.43(A)(2) protects.  Releasing materials 
that demonstrate law-enforcement investigatory strategies, particularly if 
knowledge of such strategies would empower criminals to avoid detection, is 
dangerous.  The majority’s decision today will lead to an array of negative 
consequences. 
The Trial-Preparation-Records Exception 
{¶ 67} While I believe that R.C. 149.43(A)(2) permanently excepts certain 
law-enforcement investigatory records from the Public Records Act, I would hold 
that R.C. 149.43(A)(4), the trial-preparation exception, also protects the bulk of a 
law-enforcement file from disclosure until a defendant has exhausted all direct 
appeals in the case or until the law-enforcement department closes the case 
following a decision not to press charges.  The trial-preparation exception would 
include, among other materials, witness statements, interview notes, lab results, and 
internal memoranda that a law-enforcement officer creates during an investigation 
in an effort to gather evidence to bring charges against an accused.  That evidence 
is gathered in reasonable anticipation of a criminal action or proceeding, and as 
described in Steckman, 70 Ohio St.3d 420, 639 N.E.2d 83, at paragraph four of the 
syllabus, loses its trial-preparation-record protection and may be subject to 
disclosure only after the law-enforcement department closes the case without 
January Term, 2016 
 
29 
charges or the litigation is completed, including the exhaustion of all direct appeals.  
While materials in the file lose their protection as trial-preparation records at that 
time, the confidential-law-enforcement-investigatory-record exception may still 
protect parts of the file, as described previously. 
{¶ 68} The trial-preparation exception does not cover those records 
generated on a routine basis, such as offense and incident reports or certain 
dashboard-camera footage, as we described in State ex rel. Cincinnati Enquirer v. 
Ohio Dept. of Pub. Safety, ___ Ohio St.3d ___, 2016-Ohio-7987, ___ N.E.3d ___, 
¶ 45.  Law-enforcement officers create those materials as a matter of course, 
without regard to whether the officers yet have any idea if the matter will lead to 
an indictment or trial.  Accordingly, these items cannot be said to be “specifically 
compiled in reasonable anticipation of * * * a civil or criminal action or 
proceeding” as required by the trial-preparation-record exception.  R.C. 
149.43(A)(4). 
{¶ 69} This arrangement is sensible.  The trial-preparation-record exception 
protects “any record that contains information that is specifically compiled in 
reasonable anticipation of * * * [a] criminal action or proceeding.”  Id.  The primary 
purpose behind a criminal investigation by law enforcement is to gather information 
that could lead to an indictment and trial.  While this court in Steckman stated that 
a trial-preparation record “does not lose its exempt status unless and until all ‘trials,’ 
‘actions’ and/or ‘proceedings’ have been fully completed,” id. at paragraph four of 
the syllabus, this cannot be a license to withhold such records until a defendant is 
released from prison or dead.  Construing the Public Records Act liberally in favor 
of public access, as we must, it is antithetical to permit an interpretation of 
Steckman that allows withholding of substantially all of an investigatory file 
indefinitely.  Accordingly, I would protect the file either until law enforcement 
closes a case or until there is no longer a reasonable probability that a verdict will 
be reconsidered—after the defendant has exhausted his or her direct-appeal options.  
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
30 
I would not disturb Steckman to the extent that it applies to the files of prosecutors 
or others attorneys working on criminal or civil actions. 
{¶ 70} I recognize that the trial-preparation-record exception protects some 
of the same law-enforcement materials that defendants are entitled to under Crim.R. 
16.  However, disclosure to a defendant is not the same as disclosure to the public, 
and public policy supports withholding nonroutine law-enforcement records until 
the likelihood of trial and retrial, after a successful direct appeal, pass.  Restricting 
public access to these documents prevents the press from trying an active case in 
the news.  In the event a defendant is innocent, it prevents the actual perpetrator 
from accessing information that he or she could use to prevent detection.  It also 
prevents a defendant from accessing records that may have been disclosed in 
discovery pursuant to a counsel-only designation. 
{¶ 71} The majority would allow disclosure of specific investigatory work 
product after trial but before a defendant’s direct appeals are exhausted.  This would 
re-create the problem that Steckman sought to address: giving the public (and 
potentially the defendant) access to information in the investigatory file that was 
not available to the defendant during trial and opening a second level of potential 
discovery through a public-records request between a trial verdict and a defendant’s 
direct appeal.  See Steckman, 70 Ohio St.3d at 428-429, 639 N.E.2d 83. 
Overcoming Stare Decisis 
{¶ 72} Stare decisis does not prevent us from modifying the broad work-
product exception set forth in Steckman.  Even to the extent that this modification 
may overrule a part of that decision, it meets the well-settled test for overruling 
prior precedent.  That test requires us to determine if (1) a change in circumstances 
no longer justifies continued adherence to the decision, (2) the decision defies 
practical workability, and (3) abandoning the precedent would create an undue 
hardship for those who have relied upon it.  Westfield Ins. Co. v. Galatis, 100 Ohio 
St.3d 216, 2003-Ohio-5849, 797 N.E.2d 1256, ¶ 48.  I have already explained that 
January Term, 2016 
 
31 
the 2010 revisions to Crim.R. 16 have changed the circumstances of this situation 
and that adhering to the broad work-product definition stated in Steckman is no 
longer justified. 
{¶ 73} The work-product definition in Steckman also defies practical 
workability.  We have held that the Public Records Act is to be liberally construed 
in favor of broad access while resolving doubts in favor of disclosure.  State ex rel. 
Glasgow v. Jones, 119 Ohio St.3d 391, 2008-Ohio-4788, 894 N.E.2d 686, ¶ 13.  
Yet under Steckman, the timely release of any part of a law-enforcement 
investigatory file will not occur, outside of “routine offense and incident reports.”  
Id. at 435.  If this was the General Assembly’s intent, there was no need for it to 
provide the level of detail stated in R.C. 149.43(A)(2).  The General Assembly 
could simply have excepted all law-enforcement investigatory files from the Public 
Records Act.  By so closely circumscribing the law, Steckman renders the Public 
Records Act virtually worthless in regard to many law-enforcement files. 
{¶ 74} Finally, abandoning the work-product definition set forth in 
Steckman does not create a hardship on the law-enforcement departments that have 
relied on it.  A law-enforcement department may withhold or redact materials to 
the extent they contain information legitimately excepted by R.C. 149.43(A)(2), 
including law-enforcement strategy and witness and uncharged-suspect identities.  
Moreover, given that prosecutors already disclose this information and more under 
Crim.R. 16, law-enforcement officers have not relied on an expectation of 
nondisclosure at all during the past six years. 
Attorney Fees 
{¶ 75} Finally, for the reasons described above, I agree with the majority 
opinion that a well-informed person could not reasonably believe that he or she 
complied with the Public Records Act by refusing to disclose any of the records 
requested by relator.  See R.C. 149.43(C)(2)(c).  Accordingly, I concur in the award 
of attorney fees, statutory damages, and costs to relator. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
 
32 
 
LANZINGER, J., concurs in the foregoing opinion. 
_________________ 
 
The Gittes Law Group, Frederick M. Gittes, and Jeffrey P. Vardaro, for 
relator. 
 
Richard C. Pfeiffer Jr., Columbus City Attorney, and Paula J. Lloyd, 
Assistant City Attorney, for respondents. 
 
Baker & Hostetler, L.L.P., David L. Marburger, and Melissa A. DeGaetano, 
urging granting of the writ for amicus curiae Ohio Coalition for Open Government. 
 
Soumyajit Dutta; and Covington & Burling, L.L.P., Ashley E. Bass, and 
David J. Shaw, urging granting of the writ for amicus curiae the Innocence 
Network. 
_________________