BLOOMFIELD — Was the Sunshine Law violated or not? Was the matter of safety/security something that took precedent over a records request? These are the questions that loom after a morning of direct examination in court last Friday.
And the defendants in the matter are the Stoddard County Sheriff Carl Hefner and the department’s Custodian of Records Amy Holden.
The question at the heart of the matter stems from an incident that occurred in August 2023, during which time a deputy with the Stoddard County Sheriff’s Department shot and killed a dog and disposed of the body at the Otter Slough Conservation Area. The sheriff’s department has stated this incident took place.
Following the angry public outcry of the dog’s owners — Bryan and Tylla Pennington — a civil suit was filed against the Stoddard County Sheriff’s Department. That matter has not yet gone to court. However, following the filing of the lawsuit, the Pennington family’s attorney Russ Oliver filed a request for all official call logs on the day of the incident, as well as requesting any body camera video footage that may have been recorded during the incident.
A few pieces of video footage had been provided; but the video footage from the camera that had been worn by the Deputy Roger Seal at the time of the incident was not made available, according to discussion in court. The video was later released, but Oliver contends it was after a lengthy delay which violated state statutes.
Upon challenging the fact that the video evidence had not been supplied, Oliver was informed that it was potential evidence for a possible pending investigation into the actions taken by Seal.
“The legal standards were not met in this regard,” Oliver proclaimed in court during his opening argument. “The law is very clear. The sheriff’s office had two options: either provide the video as requested, or file a claim with the court to counter that.”
To support his claim directly, Oliver quoted RSMO 610-100 (Subsection four), which states: “Any person, including a legal guardian or a parent ...., attorney for a person, or insurer of a person involved in any incident or whose property is involved in an incident, may obtain any records closed pursuant to this section or section 610.150 for purposes of investigation of any civil claim or defense, as provided by this subsection.”
“The facts are that for eight months, the Stoddard County sheriff and Amy Holden refused to provide the requested video,” Oliver stated. “The claim was that they couldn’t because of a pending or ongoing investigation — but I have found no case in all of my research that defines or clarifies what is an ongoing investigation.”
Oliver directly examined both Holden and Hefner during the trial and questioned the veracity of the claim that the case was under investigation at any particular time, and to what extent that anything was actually being done about the matter from September 2023 to the present day.
Hefner testified he had requested the Missouri State Highway Patrol investigate the matter and, following that agency’s refusal, requested Stoddard County Prosecuting Attorney Sawyer Smith investigate the matter.
Ultimately, Smith contacted Bollinger County Prosecutor Stephen Gray to investigate the matter in March of this year. At one point, Oliver called to the stand Justin Allen, who is the investigator for Smith’s office, and asked about his involvement with the investigation while it was in Smith’s hands.
Allen said he had received the case information in the fall of 2023 as well as the narrative report and the body cam video, but he did not draft a probable cause affidavit for the matter until March of this year. When asked what he had done from September of the previous year to March, Allen said he reviewed reports.
“You did no interviews and you filed for no warrants?” Oliver asked.
“No, I didn’t,” Allen answered.
When pressed on the stand during his testimony, Hefner noted the department doesn’t investigate their own department in order to avoid any potential conflict of interest. Hefner also stated he was initially unaware of the body cam footage until “a day or two after the incident.”
“Once the story became public, and after you posted what you posted (Hefner said to Oliver), my office received multiple threats — including death threats — that were left on the department voicemail,” Hefner explained. “After conferring with Amy (Holden), I determined that it was a matter of the safety of my department to keep the video from being released while the matter was under investigation.”
Oliver asked why Hefner didn’t comply with the request when Oliver had made it known that his request met the statutory standard.
“I worked with you when you were the prosecuting attorney here for 12 years,” Hefner stated. “In that time, whenever something was under investigation you forbid us from releasing information. I was just following the standard you had set with us for several years prior.”
While questioning Hefner, Oliver asked if there was any political motivation behind suppressing the video evidence.
“At the time of the evidence, you were aware that your current term was one year from expiring,” Oliver noted. “Could it be that once the statute of limitations had expired on the civil matter, then it wouldn’t matter if the information was released after the election was finished?”
“Come on,” Hefner chuckled. “Let’s not bring politics into this. That wasn’t my motivation. My job is to make sure the citizens of this county are safe, and the people who work in my department are part of that. My responsibility is to all of them.”
Both sides noted in court the video footage had finally been released to Oliver in April and no charges had been filed against Seals; but Oliver noted that doesn’t make the current litigation moot.
“The fact that someone is considering charges doesn’t mean that something is under investigation,” Oliver noted. “A file that is sitting on a desk and not moving forward is not an active investigation.”
As a result, Oliver is seeking compensation for his effort and all accrued attorney fees since the time he filed the initial letter on behalf of the Pennington family with the Sheriff’s Department.
Judge Wade Pierce presided over the matter and indicated he will accept additional briefs being filed by both sides within the next week and will render a decision after giving consideration to all the information.