Hamilton County Clerk of Courts ordered to pay $1,000 for denying records to inmate
The Hamilton County Clerk of Courts violated state public records law in 2021 when it refused to provide records to a prison inmate, the Ohio Supreme Court has ruled.
The court ordered the clerk's office to pay the inmate $1,000 in statutory damages, the maximum allowed.
The inmate, Kimani Ware, is serving 45 years to life in prison for crimes committed in Summit County in 2003, including attempted murder, rape and kidnapping.
For reasons that are not made clear in court documents, in February 2021, Ware sent two public records requests to the clerk’s office, which at the time was headed by Aftab Pureval:
One sought the oaths of office taken by Common Pleas Judge Lisa Allen as well as two former common pleas judges, Thomas Beridon and Charles Kubicki.
The other request was for documents filed in a 2001 1st District Court of Appeals case surrounding The Enquirer’s pursuit of court records in a criminal case.
The Supreme Court said Ware was not entitled to the oaths of office because his request was made under public records law, instead of under court rules. He had requested them citing the wrong authority.
But regarding the documents in The Enquirer case, the court said the clerk's office wrongfully denied Ware’s request.
In explaining its denial, the Clerk of Courts had cited a law that says an inmate must first get permission from a judge when seeking records in a criminal case initiated before July 2009. But the Supreme Court said The Enquirer case was a civil case, not a criminal one.
The court said the clerk's office failed to provide any meaningful explanation about why the civil case records would fall into the category of those concerning a criminal investigation or prosecution.
Because Ware was entitled to the records, he was entitled to $100 for each day that the clerk’s office failed to provide them. Public records law limits the maximum award to $1,000.
Justices Patrick Fischer, Michael Donnelly, Melody Stewart and Jennifer Brunner joined in the opinion. Justices Sharon Kennedy and Patrick DeWine partly concurred and partly dissented, finding that the oaths of office should have been given to Ware.
Justice Joe Deters, Hamilton County’s former prosecutor who was appointed to the court in December, did not participate in the case.
Clerk of Courts Pavan Parikh, who began serving in that role in December 2021, noted that the denial of Ware's request for records happened before his tenure.
"We fully intend on complying with the court's order and believe strongly in fulfilling public records requests that are filed with our office," Parikh said.
Ware has been involved in several public records cases in recent years. In 2020, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that Ware could pursue records from the Clerk of Courts, including an employee list and Pureval's personnel file. The court also made a ruling that year in a case out of Stark County, in which Ware sought documents for a fellow inmate.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Hamilton County clerk must pay $1K for wrongfully denying records
