Opinion ID: 766509
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Expungement of the 1997 report

Text: 95 Finally, Jackson argues the 1997 Report was illegally issued without lawful authority in that it contains defamatory matter which does now and will in the future restrict Chief Jackson's freedoms of speech and association. He therefore requests that the court order the destruction of the report. 96 Even though we hold that Jackson's complaint states a cause of action for the alleged violation of his First Amendmentright to freedom of speech, we decline to order the expungement of the 1997 report. The only case cited by Jackson in support of his request for expungement is Hammond v. Brown, 323 F. Supp. 326 (N.D. Ohio 1971). In Hammond, the district court ordered the expungement of a report released by the special grand jury investigating the Kent State tragedy. Due to the grand jury's oath of secrecy, as well as the due process and First Amendment rights of the accused, the court concluded that the report was illegally issued. See id. at 357-58. No similar policy of secrecy or need to preserve the rights of an accused exists in the instant case. Rather, Jackson is seeking the expungement of the very type of document that the Ohio Supreme Court has clearly held to be a public record: 97 Ohio law favors disclosure of public records . . . . Clearly the investigation was conducted and the record compiled to establish the accuracy of the accusations being made against the police chief and to assess the propriety of his conduct . . . . It was simply a lawful investigation of one public officer by another. As such, the record compiled is a public record as defined in R.C. 149.43(A). 98 Barton v. Shupe, 525 N.E.2d 812, 813 (Ohio 1988). For this reason, we affirm the district court's denial of Jackson's request for the expungement of the 1997 report.