PORTLAND (AP) — Lawyers for a newspaper in Maine’s largest city are appearing before the state’s high court arguing that 911 call transcripts in active homicide investigations are public records.
The Maine Attorney General’s Office denied a request from the Portland Press Herald to release transcripts from 911 calls to police before last year’s fatal shooting of two teenagers in Biddeford. That decision was upheld by a superior court judge.
Newspaper attorneys are appearing before the Supreme Judicial Court today arguing that the transcripts are public records and need to be disclosed.
The Attorney General’s Office argues that the transcripts are “intelligence and investigation,” and that public disclosure would interfere with the case against James Pak, a Biddeford landlord charged with fatally shooting 19-year-old Derrick Thompson and his girlfriend, 18- year-old Alivia Welch.
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