LaPorte prosecutor, Indiana attorney general file suit against county commissioners
LAPORTE — An ongoing battle over LaPorte County Commissioners refusing to grant the county prosecutor with access to emails from the former prosecutor is headed to court, and with the intervention of Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita.
Commissioners had been repeatedly warned, even by their own attorney, that legal action was almost guaranteed if they continued to deny access to LaPorte County Prosecutor Sean Fagan.
Fagan is listed as the plaintiff in the lawsuit submitted June 2 in LaPorte Circuit Court by Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita. Rokita’s office is paying the legal costs of the lawsuit from Fagan, who’s represented in the case by the Bopp Law Firm out of Terre Haute, Ind.
Fagan, who took office on Jan. 1, is asking for the e-mails of former prosecutor John Lake and several members of his staff from last year.
Fagan claims in the lawsuit the e-mails, currently on a county server, are needed to close any gaps in information on cases Fagan inherited from his predecessor. Fagan claims emails might include notes from talks with victims and opposing counsel, along with communications between deputy prosecutors on things like strategy in a case.
Citing state statue, the lawsuit maintains even though the e-mails are on a county server, they’re owned by whoever is prosecutor and the commissioners have no authority to deny access to the e-mails by the prosecutor, who is a judicial officer of the state.
The lawsuit also alleges failure to comply with a prosecutor’s request for emails from the office under Indiana law constitutes official misconduct, a level 6 felony offense.
Commissioners Connie Gramarossa and Rich Mrozinski have stood their ground in repeatedly denying Fagan’s request, which was first made Jan. 5.
The last denial was on April 5 when the two commissioners again ignored the advice of their legal counsel along with a written demand from Rokita to turn over the e-mails.
South Bend attorney Andrew B. Jones has since been replaced as county attorney by Scott Pejic, who declined to comment on a pending legal matter.
Mrozinski also declined to comment, while attempts to reach Gramarossa were unsuccessful.
Commissioner Joe Haney has consistently voted to grant Fagan's request, saying state law is clearly on the prosecutor's side.
He said the cost of the lawsuit for taxpayers is already estimated above $10,000 and could easily rise well into six figures.
“The actions of commissioners Gramarossa and Mrozinski are absolutely reckless,” Haney said.
All three commissioners, as well as Fagan and Rokita, are Republicans. Fagan replaced Democratic former prosecutor Lake.
Mrozinski has repeatedly alleged Fagan is out to conduct a political witch hunt.
The lawsuit is asking Fagan be given all of the emails he requested along with a declaratory judgement that the emails were unlawfully withheld.
A forensic audit of the server is also sought from the court to determine if any emails have been deleted and, if so, who had access to the emails.
Gramarossa has previously agreed to give Fagan the emails he needs from last year on specific cases only, claiming blanket access might violate the privacy of county employees.
Fagan, however, has said he cannot know which emails to request unless all of them are opened in advance to see which ones might be helpful to a case.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Prosecutor, Indiana attorney general sue LaPorte County Commissioners
