A hearing officer for the Mississippi Ethics Commission has recommended that the Marks Police Department be found in violation of the state’s Public Records Act for failing to release public documents to the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth had filed a request for incident reports and other documents related to an alleged assault on a student at Quitman County Middle School by former Leflore County Supervisor Larry “Kite” Johnson.
Although state law requires the release of incident reports and a timely written response to records requests, Marks Police Chief Marvin Furr told the Commonwealth shortly after it filed the request, “No incident reports or anything are going out to anyone that’s not directly affiliated with this case.”
Neither Furr nor anyone else at the department formally responded to the Commonwealth’s records request, which was filed March 12, even though the Public Records Act requires a written response to requests within seven business days.
The Commonwealth filed its complaint with the Ethics Commission, the public body charged with enforcing the state’s sunshine laws, on April 17.
The report, prepared by Chris Graham, the commission’s assistant director, did not recommend a fine against Furr or the department. Violations of the Public Records Act may carry a civil penalty of $100 as well as “reasonable expenses.”
The Marks Police Department has up to five days to file objections to the preliminary report, which was dated Friday and released Monday. If any objections are filed, a hearing will be held Aug. 27 in Jackson.
In response to the complaint, Furr told the Ethics Commission that the newspaper “was never denied access altogether of public records” but that the case was “still undergo(ing) investigation and such records were not available at that time.”
In his preliminary report, Graham found that an “Offense Report” later obtained by the Commonwealth from the court record should have been released by the police at the time of the request.
Although the report contained some investigative information that is exempt from public disclosure — including the name of the alleged victim and of witnesses — state law requires that government bodies released the remainder of the requested documents even if some exempted information is redacted.
Graham also recommended that the Marks Police Department be found in violation of the act for failing to provide a written denial of the remainder of the request, which had also sought other documents related to the alleged assault.
Furr was away from the office and unavailable for comment this morning.
The Commonwealth had filed the request after receiving reports that the parents of a middle school child in Marks had accused Johnson of beating the child.
Quitman County prosecutors have since charged Johnson with aggravated assault on a vulnerable person for allegedly using his belt to beat Komelliao Smith, a physically disabled fifth-grader at Quitman County Middle School, on Feb. 18.
Johnson, who had been employed as a teacher at the school prior to the incident, was fired by the district following the alleged beating. The former county supervisor is currently challenging incumbent Robert Collins for the District 5 seat.
Johnson, who also owns several businesses in the Greenwood area and is the director of the Greenwood Community and Recreation Center, turned himself in to Quitman County authorities June 17, after a circuit court judge found probable cause to bring charges. He was released on $5,000 bond.
• Contact Bryn Stole at 581-7235 or bstole@gwcommonwealth.com.
Ethics Commission ruling
