Pubdate: Tue, 18 Jan 2005
Source: Courier-Journal, The (KY)
Copyright: 2005 The Courier-Journal
Contact:  http://www.courier-journal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97
Note: Source rarely prints LTEs received from outside its circulation area

ACTIVISTS PUSH FOR COURT TO OPEN MATTINGLY CASE FILES

Ex-Police Detective's Trial Records Were Sealed

Community activists reiterated their belief yesterday that videotapes and 
transcripts from the trial of former Louisville Metro Police detective 
McKenzie Mattingly should be made public.

A jury acquitted Mattingly in September in the January 2004 shooting death 
of 19-year-old Michael Newby during what authorities describe as an 
undercover drug deal gone bad. Mattingly had been charged with murder, 
manslaughter and reckless homicide.

At the request of Mattingly's attorney, a Jefferson Circuit judge ordered 
that the case be expunged last month.

The charges were deleted from court records, and all court documents and 
videos from the trial were sealed, as allowed by state law when a defendant 
is acquitted.

Members of the Newby Network, a loose coalition of community and 
civil-rights groups that formed last January after Newby's death, said it 
is important for the public to have access to trial records.

The coalition's members, which include the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist 
and Political Repression, said they will try to challenge the sealing in court.

During a news conference yesterday, the coalition also announced its 
continued support for Police Chief Robert White and denounced a survey 
conducted by the Fraternal Order of Police in which nearly 500 officers 
said they do not have confidence in White's leadership.

The network also renewed its push for the Metro Council to create an 
independent citizen review panel that could look into police actions, 
including use of deadly force.

In 2000, an ordinance creating a review board that could conduct 
independent investigations into police actions was adopted.

But coalition members said neither the Police Accountability Commission nor 
the Police Merit Board fill the need to have residents independently review 
cases.

Newby's stepfather, Jerry Bouggess, attended yesterday's news conference. 
Newby's mother, Angela Bouggess, was not there because she is scheduled to 
have triple heart bypass surgery today.
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