FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION
OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT

 

 

The caption of this matter has been amended pursuant to the June 4, 2010 order of the hearing officer, adding as a respondent: Commissioner, State of Connecticut, Department of Correction. The above-captioned matter was heard as a contested case on March 25, 2010, May 6, 2010, June 4, 2010, and July 14, 2010, at which times the complainant and the respondents in the case on the date of a given hearing appeared and presented testimony, exhibits and argument on the complaint. The complainant, who is incarcerated, appeared via teleconference, pursuant to the January 2004 memorandum of understanding between the Commission and the Department of Correction.  See Docket No. CV 03-0826293, Anthony Sinchak v. FOIC et al, Superior Court, J.D. of Hartford at Hartford, Corrected Order dated January 27, 2004 (Sheldon, J.).

 

By letter dated September 1, 2009 to the City of Stamford respondents, the complainant requested fourteen categories of records, which comprised the entire investigatory file for case # CROS FST 153777. At the initial hearings, the City of Stamford respondents testified that they had sent to the complainant at his Department of Correction facility the requested records, with redaction of the name of a witness to the crime in question. At the March 25, 2010 hearing, a question concerning the complainant’s indigence was also addressed. At the May 6, 2010 hearing, counsel for the City of Stamford respondents reported that the Department of Correction was in the process of reviewing the requested records in order to determine whether the respondent Commissioner believed them to be exempt from mandatory disclosure. At the June 4, 2010 hearing, the complainant and the City of Stamford respondents agreed to resolve the case by sending the redacted records to the new habeas corpus attorney for the complainant, Peter K. Manko of Madison, Connecticut. However, the City of Stamford respondents reported in a written filing dated June 8, 2010 that the attorney Manko was

Docket #FIC 2009-577                                                                                             Page 2

 

not familiar with the complainant. The City of Stamford respondents also reported that they had twice sent the redacted requested records to the complainant and that the Department of Correction had on each occasion intercepted and returned the records. On June 23, 2010, the City of Stamford respondents filed the redacted set of the requested records with the Commission for an in camera inspection.

 

At the July 14, 2010 hearing, the complainant and the City of Stamford respondents restated their agreement that the City of Stamford respondents would send the redacted set of the requested records, comprising approximately 350 pages, to the complainant’s habeas corpus attorney, Peter Manko. (In early June, attorney Manko apparently had not yet been informed of his appointment as the complainant’s habeas corpus attorney.) Based upon this stipulation, the complainant agreed to withdraw his complaint in the above captioned matter.

 

The Commission takes administrative notice of the complainant’s withdrawal and recommends the following order on the basis of the record:

 

1.      Based on the withdrawal of the complaint, the case is hereby dismissed.

 

 

Approved by Order of the Freedom of Information Commission at its regular meeting of August 25, 2010.

 

 

__________________________

Petrea A. Jones

Acting Clerk of the Commission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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PURSUANT TO SECTION 4-180(c), G.S., THE FOLLOWING ARE THE NAMES OF EACH PARTY AND THE MOST RECENT MAILING ADDRESS, PROVIDED TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION, OF THE PARTIES OR THEIR AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE.

 

THE PARTIES TO THIS CONTESTED CASE ARE:

 

Harry Gonzalez, #253717

Cheshire Correctional Institution

900 Highland Avenue

Cheshire, CT 06410

 

Chief, Police Department, City of Stamford, Records Department; and

Police Department, City of Stamford

c/o Michael S. Toma, Esq. and

Bert Rosenberg, Esq.

Stamford Corporation Counsel’s Office

888 Washington Boulevard

Stamford, CT 06904

 

Commissioner, State of Connecticut,

Department of Correction

c/o Terrence M. O’Neill, Esq.

Assistant Attorney General and

Steven Strom, Esq.

Assistant Attorney General

110 Sherman Street

Hartford, CT 06105

 

 

 

____________________________

Petrea A. Jones

Acting Clerk of the Commission

 

 

 

 

 

FIC/2009-577FD/paj/8/27/2010