Des Moines Register wins access to Taser records

The Des Moines Register will gain access to video and audio records of a Taser death incident under a settlement reached Tuesday with the Iowa Department of Public Safety.

The Register sued the department in March to obtain the records, which the agency had argued were shielded from public access as part of an investigative file.

The video and audio files depict the repeated use of a Taser on Michael Zubrod, 39, of Charles City while in the custody of Worth County sheriff's deputies last year. Zubrod died following the encounter.

Tasers are weapons that deliver short, high-voltage jolts of electricity. The Register has conducted a months-long investigationinto their use by Iowa law enforcement officials to subdue unruly suspects.

Under the settlement agreement, the Department of Public Safety will provide the records — including some written reports — and allow their contents to be published. In exchange, the Register will drop its lawsuit.

"We've contended all along that the public has a right to know what happened the night that Michael Zubrod was repeatedly Tasered," said Amalie Nash, the Register's editor and vice president for audience engagement. "Now the public — and his family especially — will be able to have more information and draw their own conclusions about whether police acted appropriately."

She added, "We feel like this is a very strong public records victory."

A spokesman for the Iowa attorney general's office called the agreement an "amicable resolution" to the case, and declined further comment.

"I think the agreement speaks for itself," spokesman Geoff Greenwood said.

At issue in the Zubrod case is the extent to which the electric shocks from the Tasers caused his death. The state medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, but was prohibited from saying whether he believed the devices played a direct role. Zubrod was described as being in a state of "acute methamphetamine intoxication" at the time of his death.

In addition to the video and audio files, the Register is still seeking copies of reports filed by the Worth County deputies involved in the incident. The Division of Criminal Investigation said it does not have those records, and officials from the county have said they no longer possess them.

The settlement specifically stipulates that the department's release of the records to the Register does not represent an admission that the records are public and eligible for disclosure under the Iowa Open Records Law. It goes on to say the release has no "precedential value" — meaning other media outlets and members of the public may not cite the settlement as a justification for having similar requests fulfilled.

Nash said it's not uncommon for judges hearing open-records cases to limit their rulings to that particular situation, so it's unclear whether taking it to trial would have set precedent. The settlement is as good an outcome as the news organization could have hoped for, she said.

Even without setting a legal precedent, the case should give government agencies pause in denying records requests, Nash said. "The Register is willing to fight for things like this," she said. "That holds governmental agencies more accountable, because they know that if they don't hand over records, we're willing to go to bat for them."

The Register also has been working with the Iowa Public Information Board on proposed changes to state law that would ensure law enforcement agencies' investigative files are accessible after a case is closed. The public information board last week released proposed legislative changes that would make closed police investigative files public records, as they are in most other states.

The lawsuit settled on Tuesday was filed on the same day last March as a separate suit against the Public Information Board seeking access to records related to a 2012 incident at the Iowa Juvenile Home. The suits were filed simultaneously to send a strong message about the Register's commitment to openness and accountability in government, Nash said at the time.

Nash declined to say on Tuesday how much the Register spent pursuing the DPS suit before reaching the settlement. The lawsuit against the Public Information Board is ongoing.