PONTIAC, Mich. – Tension between an Oakland County judge and the prosecutor over the ordered release of all evidence in the Oxford High School Shooting.
That evidence would include copies of all police reports and surveillance videos.
The victim’s families are seeking the evidence as part of a civil lawsuit.
Their attorney believes they have the right to review the information, but the prosecutor’s office is seeking to stop the release.
She’s worried it will affect her criminal cases, but the county already lost their move to keep the investigatory file under wraps Wednesday.
As the criminal cases against the alleged Oxford School shooter and his parents are ongoing, multiple civil suits have been filed on behalf of the victim’s families.
On Wednesday, Judge Rae Lee Chabot ruled that the county must turn over the investigatory files to Attorney Ven Johnson, who is representing several Oxford families.
“It is my obligation on behalf of my clients to get all the evidence to review it and ask my families if they want to see this or that,” said Johnson.
The Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office is now fighting the release of the information.
“Our focus is on achieving justice in the criminal cases, and we don’t want any evidence released prematurely that could affect those cases,” said Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Marc Keast.
The judge says the parents should have an opportunity to know what is in those files before it comes out in the criminal cases.
“Judge Chabot said this on the bench today, the parents shouldn’t have to hear that for the first time simply because the prosecutor doesn’t want to show anybody,” Johnson said.
Johnson says he will not make the files, including the video of that day, available to anyone but his clients and use them for pending civil litigation.
