Opinion ID: 2634802
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: CORA and CCJRA Differentiated

Text: We decided the Denver Publishing case after the district court and court of appeals rendered their decisions in the case now before us. Our review of the statutory and legislative history led us to hold in Denver Publishing that the General Assembly in CORA did not intend to include within the definition of a public record the private content of romantic e-mail messages between two public officials. Id., at 205. We held that the General Assembly required e-mails from a public official to have a demonstrable connection to the performance of public functions or involve the receipt or expenditure of public funds in order for them to become public records under CORA. Id., at 203. Harris and Klebold have not challenged the validity of the search warrant or the relevancy of the seized recordings to the Sheriff's investigation. They simply contend that the recordings are their private property and must be returned without the opportunity for public inspection. We disagree with this contention, but we also disagree with the court of appeals' ruling that CORA applies to evidence seized from the Harris and Klebold homes. In contrast to the facts in Denver Publishing, the content of the records sought to be inspected here relate directly to the Sheriff's authority to investigate the Columbine crimes and they are relevant to that investigation. The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Colorado statutes and rules allowed the Sheriff to obtain these recordings for the public purpose of criminal investigation. U.S. Const. amend. IV; Colo. Const. art. 2, § 7; §§ 16-3-301 to -305, C.R.S. (2005). A person's privacy interest in his home and personal effects is subject to reasonable governmental intrusion when the police enter and obtain evidence of a crime pursuant to a warrant based on probable cause. See People v. Altman, 960 P.2d 1164, 1167 (Colo.1998). As a consequence, evidence of crime necessarily loses its entirely private character when a criminal justice agency lawfully obtains it for use in a criminal investigation and/or prosecution on behalf of the public. Reviewing the two statutes, we determine that the recordings at issue in this case are criminal justice records under the CCJRA, and CORA is not applicable. CORA explicitly excludes criminal justice records from the definition of public records: `Public records' does not include . . . [c]riminal justice records that are subject to the provisions of part 3 of this article . . . . § 24-72-202(6)(b)(I), C.R.S. (2005). Although similar in many respects, key definitions of CORA and the CCJRA differ in a fundamental way. Criminal justice records are restricted to those made, maintained, or kept by any criminal justice agency. Id. § 24-72-302(4). Public records are those made, maintained, or kept by the State or one of several listed entities, but does not include criminal justice records. Id. § 24-72-202(6)(a)(I). The CCJRA defines criminal justice records as follows: all books, papers, cards, photographs, tapes, recordings, or other documentary materials, regardless of form or characteristics, that are made, maintained, or kept by any criminal justice agency in the state for use in the exercise of functions required or authorized by law or administrative rule, including but not limited to the results of chemical biological substance testing to determine genetic markers conducted pursuant to sections 16-11-102.3, 16-11-104, 16-11-204.3, 16-11-308(4.5), 17-2-201(5)(h), and 17-22.5-202(3)(b.5)(II) and (3.5), C.R.S. Id. § 24-72-302(4) (emphasis added). CORA defines public records as follows: all writings made, maintained, or kept by the state, any agency, institution, a nonprofit corporation incorporated pursuant to section 23-5-121(2), C.R.S., or political subdivision of the state, or that are described in section 29-1-902, C.R.S., and held by any local government-financed entity for use in the exercise of functions required or authorized by law or administrative rule or involving the receipt or expenditure of public funds. Id. § 24-72-202(6)(a)(I) (emphasis added). The legislature enumerated several considerations underscoring the purposes for its CCJRA enactment. [T]he maintenance, access and dissemination, completeness, accuracy, and sealing of criminal justice records are matters of statewide concern. . . . Id. § 24-72-301(1). The General Assembly enumerated not just access and dissemination but sealing of criminal justice records as matters of statewide concern. This distinction between CORA and the CCJRA is further highlighted by the inclusion of an additional public policy consideration in the CCJRA: It is further declared to be the public policy of this state that criminal justice agencies shall maintain records of official actions . . . and that such records shall be open to inspection by any person and to challenge by any person in interest, . . . and that all other records of criminal justice agencies in this state may be open for inspection as provided in this part 3 or as otherwise specifically provided by law. Id. § 24-72-301(2). Accordingly, the legislature has expressly stated its intent that records of official actions shall be open to the public for inspection, while all other records of criminal justice agencies may be open for inspection subject to certain exceptions. Finally, the legislature established different procedures when the custodians of public records and criminal justice records deny access to those records. If the custodian of public records denies access and the requesting entity seeks a court order directing the custodian to allow access, the custodian under CORA must pay the requesting party's reasonable costs and attorney fees unless the court determines that denial of access was proper. Id. § 24-72-204(5). In contrast, if the custodian of criminal justice records denies access, it is only required to pay the requesting party's reasonable costs and attorney fees under the CCJRA if the court finds that the denial was improper and was arbitrary and capricious. Id. § 24-72-305(7). This additional restriction imposed on the requester of criminal justice records reinforces the legislative policy that access to criminal justice records is more limited than access to public records. In reversing the court of appeals' conclusion that CORA applies to the recordings in this case, we also look to the circumstances under which the General Assembly enacted the CCJRA in 1977, as we did in Denver Publishing, at 196-99. See § 2-4-203(1)(b), C.R.S. (2005) (court may consider circumstances under which the statute was enacted). The federal government provided the initial impetus for the CCJRA with passage of the Crime Control Act of 1973. Criminal Justice Records Act: Hearing on H.B. 1597 Before the House Judiciary Committee, 51st Gen. Assem. of Colo. (1977) (statement of Gary Pond, Division of Criminal Justice) (audio recording). The new federal law required state compliance to receive federal funds; compliance in part required creation of a scheme for managing and disseminating criminal records information. Id. Because Colorado legislators did not believe the existing statutory provisions of CORA met the federal requirement, id., they enacted the CCJRA. In adopting the CCJRA, the General Assembly created the separate criminal justice records category, Criminal Justice Records Act, ch. 340, sec. 1, § 24-72-302, 1977 Colo. Sess. Laws 1244, 1245, and excluded those records from the statutory definition of CORA public records, ch. 340, sec. 2, § 24-72-202, 1977 Colo. Sess. Laws 1244, 1250 ([Public records] does not include criminal justice records which are subject to the provisions of Part 3 of this article.). The legislature added this separate Part Three to Article 72, Title 24, to address criminal justice records and records of official actions of criminal justice agencies. In doing so, the legislature adopted a definition of criminal justice records that remains substantially unchanged to the present, and placed the decision whether to disclose criminal justice records within the sound discretion of the custodian, subject to certain exceptions. Thus, if a criminal justice entity is making, maintaining, or keeping the record sought to be inspected, the General Assembly has provided that it is not a public record subject to CORA. § 24-72-202(6)(b)(I), C.R.S. (2005). Rather, the questions to be answered are whether the record sought to be inspected is a criminal justice record under the CCJRA and, if so, whether or not the Sheriff may allow its inspection. Nevertheless, because CORA and the CCJRA are similarly constructed, we look to our analysis in Denver Publishing for help in understanding the General Assembly's intent on questions of the CCJRA's applicability. We also look to our pre- Denver Publishing CORA decision in Wick Communications Co. v. Montrose County Board of County Commissioners, 81 P.3d 360 (Colo.2003), for guidance.