Pinal County Released Mountain of Un-Redacted Public Records to PCSO Detective Suing the County, and Now Pinal Officials Want it All Back
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| PCSO Detective Andrew Goode |
And now, an attorney representing the county wants to know what Goode has done with the CD.
The attorney, Jim Jellison -- who hasn't returned New Times' calls -- is demanding that Goode give it back.
It apparently contains about five gigabytes of data -- more than a years' worth of e-mails from several members of Babeu's administration, including Babeu, Lieutenant Blake King, Chief Deputy Steve Henry, Deputy Chief Harry Grizzle, and Human Resources Director Brandi Clark.
In a April 12 letter to Goode's attorney, Jellison says he wants to know how many gigabytes of information are on the disk, the location of disk, whether copies have been made, and whom they've been shared with.
Jellison, who has a copy of the same information Goode received, wrote in his letter that it contains Social Security numbers, attorney-client privileged communication, and employees' personal information.
But Goode maintains that he received the information after making a legitimate request for public records -- and doesn't plan to give it back.
Instead, Goode has given a copy of the CD to the FBI as part of a public-corruption complaint he filed against the PCSO, the Pinal County Attorney's Office, and the Tucson Police Department.
Goode is one of the two cops injured at Country Thunder in April 2011 while arresting two individuals at "Camp Titties and Beer," a campground occupied primarily by off-duty Tucson police officers.
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| Camp Titties and Beer, a Country Thunder campground occupied by off-duty cops from the Tucson Police Department. |
Grant suffered injuries to his head and neck after Keys -- the son of retired Tucson cops -- jumped him from behind and started to choke him. Grant, at that time, was hauling Keys' wife out of the campground in handcuffs. During Grant's scuffle with Keys, Grant pulled out his gun, and Keys ran. When Goode went after him and tried to arrest him, he severely injured his leg in the struggle -- fracturing a bone and damaging ligaments.
The investigation of the case was poorly executed. For example, some reports weren't filed until months after the incident. And PCSO Lieutenant King -- within hours of the Keys' getting arrested and booked into the local jail -- decided that Goode had made a "bad arrest."
Not only did the Sheriff's Office arrange for a deputy to pick up a judge at home, on a Saturday evening, to release Keys from jail, but Keys also was driven back to County Thunder by someone from the Sheriff's Office.
The same night of the incident, King also wrote an e-mail to Deputy County Attorney Paul Ahler stating that "unfortunately the subject booked for agg assault had been finger printed before I could have a change to get him released."
Then, he asked Ahler to "please attempt to have [Keys'] DPS record of this cleared."
The events of that day at Country Thunder have prompted both Goode and Grant to file lawsuits against Pinal County.
In preparation for his lawsuit, Goode has requested e-mails and other public records from the PCSO.
He got the first batch without any problem (aside from Jellison's saying the file is un-redacted, and he wants it back) but has been waiting more than two months for other public records requests he has filed.
Goode has asked for all e-mails from other employees in the PCSO, most of them dating back to April 9, 2011 -- the day of the Country Thunder incident.
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