ABC News – by SUSAN HAIGH, Associated Press
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed legislation into law Wednesday that prevents the public release of crime scene photos and video evidence from the Connecticut school shootings that took the lives of 20 first graders and six school employees.
The new law, a result of efforts to balance private and public interests, creates an exemption to the state’s Freedom of Information Act and applies to homicides in Connecticut.
The law prevents the release of photographs, film, video and other images depicting a homicide victim if those records “could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of the personal privacy of the victim or the victim’s surviving family members.”
Malloy signed the bill hours after the General Assembly approved the eleventh-hour compromise during the early morning hours of the final day of the state legislative session. Malloy said he believes “a parent of a deceased child should have the right to remember that child” as they wish and not because they were “caught up in some tragic and unbelievable circumstances.”
The governor’s office originally worked privately with legislative leaders and the state’s top prosecutor to draft a bill that would address the concerns of families who lost relatives in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown. They considered various proposals, including legislation applying only to the Newtown victims and allowing their families to decide whether certain information should be released.
But in the end, the bill was tailored off an exemption in the federal Freedom of Information law.
During a somber early-morning Senate debate on the bill, as several family members of the victims looked on, Senate President Donald E. Williams Jr. said lawmakers were moved by the parents’ concerns and tried to come up with a fair proposal.
“We have tried our best as Democrats and Republicans to work together to protect the interests of these families, these parents, these relatives sitting behind me, at the same time honoring our tradition as a free and open democracy,” he said.
The new law creates a one-year moratorium on the release of certain portions of audiotape or other recordings in which the condition of a homicide victim is described. The exemption does not include 911 emergency call recordings, however.
Additionally, it creates a task force that would make recommendations on the balance between victim privacy under the FOI law and the public’s right to know. The task force must submit its recommendations by Jan. 1.
Disputes over the release of materials could be resolved as similar disputes have been in the past, either in the state Freedom of Information Commission or the courts.
Colleen Murphy, the commission’s executive director, said the standard of an “unwarranted” invasion of the personal privacy of the victim or victim’s surviving family members has never been time-tested in Connecticut. She said the commission decisions on this issue will be a first.
The Senate approved the bill 33-2; the House by a vote of 130-2.
Rep. Stephen Dargan, D-West Haven, who voted against the measure, said he was concerned about the message it sent.
“Some people that thought they were impacted underneath the Second Amendment feel that they’re impacted underneath the First Amendment because the government is covering up or not letting the public have the right to know,” he said.
On Tuesday, family members of the Sandy Hook victims began a vigil at the state Capitol, waiting for legislative action.
Mark Barden, whose 7-year-old son Daniel was killed, told The Associated Press he knows of individuals and groups that want the photos. Given today’s technology, he said, one photograph can be distributed worldwide and remain accessible forever.
“It’s these strange individuals and fringe interest groups that have expressed a very real need for this information and they don’t have any business having it,” he said. “Nobody would benefit from it. On the contrary, it would do so much harm.”
Members of the legislature’s Black and Puerto Rican Caucus also voiced concerns about the original legislation preventing only the release of photos from the Newtown massacre. Legislators then broadened the bill to include other homicides.
The Connecticut Daily Newspaper Association had expressed concern about the possibility of limiting access to the documents.
“Any time the state is interested in opening up the Freedom of Information Act, we urge them to use extreme caution. Obviously, there’s deference to the tragedy that happened at Sandy Hook,” said Christopher VanDeHoef, the association’s executive director. “But it’s our concern that we’re going to use that as sort of a sweeping change to FOI law that could be damaging to the openness of government down the road.”
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/conn-lawmakers-compromise-newtown-privacy-bill-19328618#.UbBwdEDqmSo
AMERICA , YOUR SUNSET IS FADING FAST
This just adds weight to the argument this was a false flag… It stinks again and the people deserve the truth. God bless all…
My Fellow Patriots:
As this piece of filth, “Gov” Malloy was signing this,.. he could be heard mumbling to himself,….”must hide evidence gov’t did this,… must hide evidence gov’t did this,.. must hide evidence gov’t did this”…..
Gee,… I wonder if the feels it is necessary to hide the evidence that the US Fed Gov’t did this?
JD – US Marines – Another irrefutable indication,.. the Republic has fallen,.. and has been replaced by the cummunist “Empire!”,.. Long live Lord Vader!!!,.. Oppps,.. I mean,… Lord Ocrapo.
well, mr us marine, you’re on the right track, the govt. DID do “this”. Unfortunately, not the “this” you think it is. because there was no “this” other than a staged crime, no one died, there ARE NO CRIME SCENE PHOTOS. i predicted this would happen within a week of the “incident”. see this was so predictable, because YOU CANNOT RELEASE SOMETHING THAT DOES NOT EXIST!!!, so now, at best, they have bought their photoshop, and evidence manufacturing team, at least another year or two to doctor photos up (hopefully better than the garbage they have released of the “dead bin laden”), if their plans to start a civil war, or unleash a false flag terror attack, that makes 9/11 look like a drop in the bucket havent been unleashed by then, which unfortunately, i dont think is possible, they are doing everything they can to rile us up, and create a scenario, where they can pull their “boston bombing” lockdown bullchit, nationwide. they are not releasing these “crime scene photos, because they simply do not exist, PERIOD, this was a poorly executed fema hseep drill passed off as a real “tragedy”, and far too many people know this, i must say, i get a real chuckle at the fear our govt, is finally displaying toward its people, but also a hollow, gut wrenching feeling when i think of what their desperation to stay in power, and out of the gallows, will lead them to unleash on the public next, stay alert, and well my friend, as the terrorists we truly need be afraid of, are the ones sitting in our nations capitol, and their puppetmasters, the banksters.
Well said Guy. Doesn’t anyone find it absolutely and stunningly remarkable that not ONE photo of anyone supposedly “killed” has ever been shown/released/leaked of Sandy Hook. Think about that for a second. Does that not blow your mind? Even those of us who say we are no longer suffering from cognitive dissonance, think about that one.
Is it any different from the 9/11 Pentagon – not ONE photo of the plane hitting the building, oh – except for that “flash” shot. Nice. I swear, these nutjobs must be kicking back every day in disbelief that they still can push these beyond incredible stories on us while most just nod in approval or indifference to it all. UNREAL.
ar15 long rifle casings everywhere, dead shooter in the building, ar15 in his car. Not one pic or video of body. Only a few articles about funerals. Parents not allowed to see their children. Where did the children go? No ambulance on the scene. Sealed records and now sealed forever. Since day 11-14-12, we already knew this was 9/11 two…. How do we know when the gov’t is lying? It makes a statement. The Communists are here, and we are forcing them to show their hand to the nation, case in point. Soon, even the most partisan and stubborn will begin to see the light.
How do we know that these kids aren’t actually being pimped out at the Bilderberg Meeting? I guess the parents don’t really want to know. Nothing to see here, de ja vue.
Hi guy,
Right you are, except I never said anyone was actually killed, or any other aspect of this event really happened,… I only commented on the fact that we have a state govenor now complicit in covering up this farce with the power of “law (???)”.
When this event happened, we dicussed it in great detail on From The Trenches Radio Show (which you can see/hear everyday from 3-5 pm live, or later as it is recorded), and I had stated immediately that I have not seen one shred of legitimate evidence that any person(s) had actually been killed or even injured,.. as well as the rest of this Saturday Night Live Skit being a second rate production.
Thanks all the same for trying to make sure that everyone knows,.. this is a bad joke,.. but the joke is on America, on our liberties, and on our sensibilities.
JD – US Marine – Glad to see people understand what a charade this whole Connecticut Gov’t-Op is.
What are they trying to hide?
Hi Andy,
Q: What are they trying to hide?
A: Everything that is fake about this,…. which is everything.
JD – US Marines – And our Republic just took another step deeper into hell.
…impeach the good Governer…charge him with treason and hang him at Sandy Hook…
Regards,
RJ O’Guillory
Author-
Webster Groves-The Life of an Insane Family
I had this one pegged nearly from the very beginning. By day three I was screaming for photos as proof that ANYONE had actually been killed at Sandy Hoax.
Still waiting.
That one sittin’ on Obama’s knee in the photo-op days after Sandy Hook, she was killed there #1. These people could F@#k up a wet dream it seems.
I think it is important that people need to be reminded of ‘some’ the questions to maintain perspective.
THE STORY:
A 20 year old, small framed kid named Adam Lanza snapped on 12/14/12. He shot his mother, Nancy Lanza, multiple times in the face, killing her. Then he loads her car up with her alleged “survival stash” of guns and ammo. He drives into town from his family’s Newtown mansion to the Sandy Hook Elementary School (which he never attended) and then, with Special Forces-like accuracy, and mental coolness, shoots 27 people dead, firing 182 times, (once every two seconds,) in two school rooms and an adjoining hallway, and then commits suicide.
TEN QUESTIONS:
1. WHY??? What would be Lanza’s motive? No note?
2. Adam did not drive his mother’s BMW to the school. The Honda of a convicted convict (Christopher A. Rodia) was recovered with it’s four doors open and black sweat shirts were on the ground near it. So who drove that car?
3. We know the school had a door camera, was he caught shooting his way into the school, and if he did, why did the police say “they” had to shoot their way in??
4. How did he get his brother Ryan’s ID, if he hadn’t seen him in the two years prior to the shooting?
5. Why were emergency responders, who came to assist, turned away at the scene?
6. Why did school nurse, Sally Cox, tell reporters that Adam’s mother was a wonderful Kindergarten teacher at Sandy Hook when in fact Nancy had no connection to the school whatsoever and was never a teacher of any kind?
7. In this digital age, how is it there are no citizen reporter photos or videos available? Why is there not ONE picture of the front of the school or any broken classroom windows, bodies, shell casings, etc.? And where is any live coverage of the 600 students, teachers, etc. evacuating the building?
8. Why were the parents not given the option to view their children’s bodies? And why were the parents OK with this?
9. Why were the bodies removed in the middle of the night?
10. How do so many parents interviewed on camera manage to not shed a single tear while talking about their murdered child? Not one tear? It’s possible that some people might not shed tears but not EVERYONE!!
I knew right from that first press conference with the medical examiner and troopers that something was very wrong. At the very least, WE should get to see the front door of the school that “Lanza” shot up. What’s wrong with seeing empty cartridges, too?
I think Malloy is involved in this mess and now, thanks to the Feds, he’s considered “dirty”. In other words, Malloy is complicit and since he is a typical anti-gun Democrat, he would have done anything, legal or not, to effect some level of gun “control”.
The medical examiner is also highly questionable. This event is highly suspect and the passage of the law against seeing bodies, etc will seal the event from taxpayers and patriots.
It’s all part of a vicious takeover of this state and nation by the parallel government that is now using illegal surveillance on us. Obama, of course, knows nothing, NOTHING! We have got to fight back somehow. It’s a matter of life or death.