The Alabama Supreme Court chief justice gave a strongly worded dissent to a ruling by the court on Friday that said that a sheriff’s office did not have to turn over records about a fatal shooting by a deputy, a ruling that broadly interpreted an exemption for investigative records.

“With one sweeping stroke, today’s decision spells the end of public access to law-enforcement records that are connected in any way to an investigation,” Chief Justice Tom Parker wrote in his dissent note, the lone one in the ruling according to the Associated Press.

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“I cannot sit idly by while this Court shrinks a legal right of the people of Alabama to the vanishing point. And I especially cannot do so when that shrinkage flies in the face of text and precedent,” the dissent note added. 

A weekly news outlet named Lagniappe had been denied the police records related to the 2017 shooting case of Jonathan Victor, prompting the lawsuit . The incident was investigated by the Baldwin County Major Crimes Unit and a grand jury cleared Baldwin County Sheriff’s Deputy, Corporal Matt Hunady in the shooting.

Hunady had shot Victor after a one-car accident in which Victor ran off the interstate, the Associated Press reported.

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Officials did show video taken from the body camera of the deputy who shot Victor and video from a bystander to news outlets after the grand jury decision. FOX10 reported Victor continued to approach Hunady and several other deputies while in a shooting stance despite multiple commands to stand down. No gun was found on Victor or in his car, but he had a pair of scissors and investigators said his wrists were bleeding.

Justices on Friday upheld a lower court’s ruling in favour of the Baldwin County sheriff’s office denying the records to Lagniappe. Justices ruled the records fall under an exemption for investigative records.

Lagniappe had sought records including dash cam, body cam, and third-party video; the audio from any 911 calls or radio communications; photographs from the scene; autopsy records; and communications such as emails, text messages, and other forms of messaging.

The investigation had ended without an indictment, but the court majority wrote that the records were covered by the investigative exemption.

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“All materials requested by Lagniappe are related to the incident regarding Cpl. Hunady, which was the subject of a criminal investigation. The very wording of Lagniappe’s request, seeking all the “records related to the shooting,” seeks such investigative material. Thus, the investigative-privilege exception applies,” the ruling said.

(With inputs from the Associated Press)