Photo by Scott Rodgerson on Unsplash.
On Monday, August 12, a Boulder County district court judge ruled in favor of plaintiffs Yellow Scene Magazine and Jeannette Orozco, represented by Hutchinson Black and Cook attorneys Dan Williams, Matthew Simonsen, and Ashlyn Hare.
The ruling? The Boulder Police Department cannot condition release of police body camera footage on payment of fees when the footage is requested pursuant to the 2020 Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Act.
In this groundbreaking civil rights case, the city is compelled to release all body camera footage related to the fatal shooting of 51-year-old Jeanette Alatorre on December 17, 2023. HBC also represents Ms. Alatorre’s daughter.
The Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Act requires all unedited video and audio recordings of incidents “in which there is a complaint of peace officer misconduct” to be released to the public no later than 21 days after a request is made. An agency can delay the release of the video until 45 days from the date of an allegation of misconduct if the video “would substantially interfere with or jeopardize an active or ongoing investigation.”
HBC attorneys filed a lawsuit on behalf of Yellow Scene Magazine and Ms. Orozco after Boulder demanded payment of thousands of dollars to release the body camera footage of Jeanette Alatorre’s death. The ruling, which prohibits charging fees, is expected to make it easier for residents and news organizations to access video evidence of police use of force and potential misconduct.
HBC attorneys Dan Williams, Matt Simonsen, and Ashlyn Hare are thrilled to have won this case for their clients. But more importantly, the firm is proud of the impact this ruling will have for years to come for residents of Boulder.
“The court’s ruling reaffirms the clear intent of the Colorado legislature in 2020: to mandate the prompt release of body-camera footage depicting alleged police misconduct without any expectation that law enforcement agencies, like Boulder’s, would be allowed to hide this potentially unflattering footage behind an insurmountable paywall,” said HBC attorney Matt Simonsen.
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