Ohio Public Records Briefing - Issue #9

Prisoner's public records requests, COVID delays, and an overview of sealed records.

Issue 9 on May 9th – a happy little coincidence? You decide. We’ve got loads of fun for you this week, so let’s dive in!

Fun Fact

A criminal defendant is allowed to use public records requests to help prepare his defense.

If your agency gets a public records request from someone charged with a crime, you must respond to it like any other public records request.

However, criminal defendants don’t get to avoid their reciprocal obligation to provide discovery or information to the prosecutor just because the defendant uses the public records law to get records. In fact, if a criminal defendant makes a public records request to an agency involved in his case, the Ohio Supreme Court says it’s treated as a demand for discovery and triggers the defendant’s reciprocal responsibilities under Crim.R. 16 (the discovery rules for criminal cases).