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Re: Destruction of notes and data
Posted by:
Jim Mazerat (IP Logged)
Date: February 17, 2007 11:00AM
George
First of all let me tell you about a federal case in Louisiana. A person was interviewed by an FBI agent during a criminal investigation. The FBI agent took written notes of the interview. This person was later charged with lying to the agent based on the information in the agent’s notes of what was said at the interview. The defense was not allowed by law to see these notes and this decision was taken to the court of appeals and the decision was upheld. They were allowed to question the agent about what was in the notes but the notes where not to be produced. The person was convicted and the conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court. There may have been information in those notes that would have assisted the defense but the law said they did not have the right to see those notes.
Lets see if I can address your questions one by one. The answers may be out of order but I think it will enable me to clearly answer all questions.
First of all the statement you quoted said nothing about destroying any information. It was addressing the volunteering of information not required by law to be given to the opposing side. In both criminal and civil cases there may be information that is privilege and the court does not require this information to be given to the opposing side. I do believe anything that is required by law to be revealed should be without question.
The investigation is always conducted without any preconception as to what took place or who is responsible. Under the law I am only allowed to release information to specific parties. This is in both criminal and civil cases. There is a process, required by law, that the opposing side must take to obtain information as to the facts discovered during my investigation. These methods include, but are not limited to interrogatories, request for production, depositions, and court room testimony. The failure of voluntarily releasing information about one’s findings has nothing to do with my investigation being fair or impartial, it is what the law will allow me to do.
As to ethical considerations, I think my previous posting addresses this topic. I do not have a problem with transference of information from what is considered field notes to another form of retention, such as a written report. I believe the only ethical problem would be if not all the information is transferred.
As to moral consideration, do I feel the law sometimes is not fair, yes I do as in the case mentioned. Do I think following the law at times can cause a moral problem, yes I do. Do I feel the transfer of information from field notes to another type of media, no I do not. I posted a question at the end of the previous posting that to me is a moral issue. What would you do if that happens to you? Moral issues are not always easy to answer.
As to destroying evidence being a crime, I do not believe the transfer of material from one media to another is the destruction of evidence.
From these answers, I guess you can see I did mean what I said.
Jim