Dear Resident:

The Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office is in receipt of the below record
request.  The request is denied at this time, for the following reasons:

1.) Our search has disclosed no case that matches the case identifiers
that you have provided, which are limited to defendant's name plus
sentencing date.  We had only one criminal case where the named individual
was charged.  That case was dismissed before adjudication, for reason of
the defendant's death.  We have no file where the named individual was
sentenced, on May 1, 2015 or any other date.  Therefore the request is
denied for lack of responsive records.  If it was your intent to request
records from the file on which Mr. Chapnick was charged, please file an
amended request using case number 14-1529 as the identifier.

2.) The request for "all reports/documents/records pertaining to the
following defendant" is invalid as overbroad and generalized.    "OPRA
does not countenance wholesale requests for general information or
open-ended demands for every document a public agency has on file. 
Rather, OPRA requests a party requesting access to a public record to
specifically describe the document sought."  Spectraserv, Inc. v.
Middlesex Cty Utls. Auth., 416 N.J. Super. 565, 576, 578 (App. Div. 2010);
see also Bent v. Township of Stafford Police Dep't, 381 N.J. Super. 30,
33-34, 37 (App. Div. 2005) (request for entire criminal file held invalid;
OPRA does not "authorize a party to make a blanket request for every
document a public agency has on file [and] does not authorize unbridled
searches of an agency’s property").  Additionally, a request for "any
relevant" reports "pertaining" to a defendant is invalid because it
requires subjective judgment; the custodian is left to guess -- "relevant"
how, to what?  See Paff v. Galloway Twp, 229 N.J. 340, 355 (2017) (an OPRA
"request should not require the records custodian to undertake a
subjective analysis to understand the nature of the request").  Even if
your request did identify a particular file that is in our possession
(which, as stated, it does not) – a request for “all
reports/documents/records” contained therein would be subject to denial as
overbroad.

3.) Insofar as the request is made under the common law, "unlike a
citizen's absolute statutory right of access [under OPRA], a plaintiff's
common-law right of access must be balanced against the State's interest
in preventing disclosure.  The common law right of access involves a
two-step inquiry.  First, a litigant must establish an interest in the
public record.... Once the first step has been satisfied, then, to gain
access, a plaintiff's interest in disclosure of the relevant documents
must outweigh the State's interest in non-disclosure."  Education Law Ctr
v. New Jersey Dep’t of Educ., 198 N.J. 274, 302-03 (2009) (emphasis
added). Thus, the standard makes clear that, to gain access under the
common law, you must first establish an interest in the requested
record(s).  You have not done so.  Your request does not even identify who
you are, let alone a legitimate interest in any records in a criminal case
in which Mr. Chapnick was a defendant.  As such, your common law request
is insufficient and subject to denial on its face.

Should you choose to re-submit an amended request to address the issues
cited herein, and you continue to want “global subject activity reports”
and “criminal information forms,” please explain what those documents are.
 I am unfamiliar with records identified by those names.  Please also
clarify/specify your request for “affidavits” so that I can readily
determine whether the record is accessible versus exempt from disclosure. 
See New Jersey Builders Ass’n v. New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing,
390 N.J. Super. 166, 176-78 (App. Div.), certif. denied, 190 N.J. 394
(2007).

Respectfully,

Mary Juliano

Assistant Prosecutor

-----Original Message-----
From: Resident <[OPRA #18104 email]>
Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2020 12:43 AM
To: OPRA <[Monmouth County Prosecutor&#39;s Office request email]>
Subject: [EXTERNAL]OPRA request - Case reports

Dear Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office,

This is a request for public records made under OPRA and the common law
right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form. Please
acknowledge receipt of this message.

Records requested:

All reports/documents/records pertaining to the following defendant.
Please include any relevant MVA reports, arrest reports, global subject
activity reports, preliminary law enforcement incident reports, complaint
warrants, complaint summons, affidavits, indictments, criminal information
forms, plea forms, sentencing information.

Abraham Chapnick (sentencing date: 5/1/15).

Yours sincerely,

Resident

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Thank you for your response.

You do not need to submit a separate email. The below clarification is fine.

I had not reviewed the request or AP Bycsek's response, but my Office routinely provides the documents that she did, in response to OPRA requests for them.
Your original request was different; it was for "all reports/documents/records," not limited to the specific records that Ms. Bycsek provided.

Additionally, the reference in my email to your identification as "Resident" pertained to your request under the common law, not under OPRA. Unlike OPRA, the common law takes into account the status of the person that is requesting access to records and the reason for the request. K.LO. v. Evesham Twp Bd. of Educ., 423 N.J. Super. 337, 359-60 (App. Div. 2011), certif. denied, 210 N.J. 108 (2012). You are free to withhold your identity and your interest in the records that you are seeking; this will affect your right of access under the common law, not under OPRA.

I will process your amended request within the normal 7 business days permitted by N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(i)(1).

-----Original Message-----
From: Resident <[OPRA #18104 email]>
Sent: Monday, October 26, 2020 2:51 PM
To: Mary Juliano <[email address]>
Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL]OPRA request - Case reports

Dear Ms. Juliano,

"Global Subject Activity Report" is a term that seems to be used as a synonym for an arrest report for documents provided by Ocean County. If you would like to see a Global Subject Activity Report that is provided by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, it is on page 3 of this OPRA request PDF response from Ocean County: https://opramachine.com/request/17697/re...

Looking over this October 13 OPRA request sent to the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office here:
https://opramachine.com/request/patricia...

and the response from the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office (Kathleen Bycsek) sent on October 21 here:
https://opramachine.com/request/patricia...

the October 13 request was from "Anonymous" and the October 21 response from your office (Kathleen Bycsek) provided the following documents to "Anonymous": Complaint Summons, Affidavit of Probable Cause, Preliminary Law Enforcement Incident Report, Wall Township Arrest Report, and Wall Township Event Report in this PDF response: https://opramachine.com/request/17361/re...

Since your office just fulfilled an "Anonymous" request for most of the same types of documents just 5 days ago, I see no reason why "Resident" should be denied the same type records 5 days later.

In any event, per your suggestion, I will amend my OPRA request to involve defendant Abraham Chapnick, Case # 14-1529.

So, the amended OPRA request is this: Please provide MVA reports, arrest reports, preliminary law enforcement incident reports, complaint warrants, complaint summons, affidavits of probable cause and charging documents for defendant Abraham Chapnick, Case # 14-1529.

Does this need to be filed as an entirely new request or will you accept this as the amended request? Please let me know. Thank you for your assistance!

Yours sincerely,

Resident

-----Original Message-----

Dear Resident:

The Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office is in receipt of the below record request. The request is denied at this time, for the following reasons:

1.) Our search has disclosed no case that matches the case identifiers that you have provided, which are limited to defendant's name plus sentencing date. We had only one criminal case where the named individual was charged. That case was dismissed before adjudication, for reason of the defendant's death. We have no file where the named individual was sentenced, on May 1, 2015 or any other date. Therefore the request is denied for lack of responsive records. If it was your intent to request records from the file on which Mr. Chapnick was charged, please file an amended request using case number 14-1529 as the identifier.

2.) The request for "all reports/documents/records pertaining to the following defendant" is invalid as overbroad and generalized. "OPRA does not countenance wholesale requests for general information or open-ended demands for every document a public agency has on file. Rather, OPRA requests a party requesting access to a public record to specifically describe the document sought." Spectraserv, Inc. v.
Middlesex Cty Utls. Auth., 416 N.J. Super. 565, 576, 578 (App. Div. 2010); see also Bent v. Township of Stafford Police Dep't, 381 N.J. Super. 30, 33-34, 37 (App. Div. 2005) (request for entire criminal file held invalid; OPRA does not "authorize a party to make a blanket request for every document a public agency has on file [and] does not authorize unbridled searches of an agency’s property"). Additionally, a request for "any relevant" reports "pertaining" to a defendant is invalid because it requires subjective judgment; the custodian is left to guess -- "relevant"
how, to what? See Paff v. Galloway Twp, 229 N.J. 340, 355 (2017) (an OPRA "request should not require the records custodian to undertake a subjective analysis to understand the nature of the request"). Even if your request did identify a particular file that is in our possession (which, as stated, it does not) – a request for “all reports/documents/records” contained therein would be subject to denial as overbroad.

3.) Insofar as the request is made under the common law, "unlike a citizen's absolute statutory right of access [under OPRA], a plaintiff's common-law right of access must be balanced against the State's interest in preventing disclosure. The common law right of access involves a two-step inquiry. First, a litigant must establish an interest in the public record.... Once the first step has been satisfied, then, to gain access, a plaintiff's interest in disclosure of the relevant documents must outweigh the State's interest in non-disclosure." Education Law Ctr v. New Jersey Dep’t of Educ., 198 N.J. 274, 302-03 (2009) (emphasis added). Thus, the standard makes clear that, to gain access under the common law, you must first establish an interest in the requested record(s). You have not done so. Your request does not even identify who you are, let alone a legitimate interest in any records in a criminal case in which Mr. Chapnick was a defendant. As such, your common law request is insufficient and subject to denial on its face.

Should you choose to re-submit an amended request to address the issues cited herein, and you continue to want “global subject activity reports”
and “criminal information forms,” please explain what those documents are.
I am unfamiliar with records identified by those names. Please also clarify/specify your request for “affidavits” so that I can readily determine whether the record is accessible versus exempt from disclosure. See New Jersey Builders Ass’n v. New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing,
390 N.J. Super. 166, 176-78 (App. Div.), certif. denied, 190 N.J. 394 (2007).

Respectfully,

Mary Juliano

Assistant Prosecutor

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this UNIQUE email address for all replies to this request and no other:
[OPRA #18104 email]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://opramachine.com/help/officers

View this OPRA request & responses online:
https://opramachine.com/request/case_rep...

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.

If you find this service useful as an OPRA custodian, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's website.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTICE OF CONFIDENTIALITY This message, including any prior messages and attachments, may contain advisory, consultative and/or deliberative material, confidential information or privileged communications of the Office of the Monmouth County Prosecutor. Access to this message by anyone other than the sender and the intended recipient(s) is unauthorized. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, any disclosure, copying, distribution or action taken or not taken in reliance on it, without the expressed written consent of the Office of the Monmouth County Prosecutor, is prohibited. If you have received this message in error, you should not save, scan, transmit, print, use or disseminate this message or any information contained in this message in any way and you should promptly delete or destroy this message and all copies of it. Please notify the sender by return e-mail if you have received this message in error.

hide quoted sections

Dear Resident:

Attached please find records responsive to the below amended OPRA request.

I understand the request for "MVA reports" to refer to New Jersey Police
Crash Investigation Reports, which are non-exempt public records subject
to release under OPRA.  North Jersey Media Group, Inc. v. Township of
Lyndhurst, 441 N.J. Super. 70, 107 (App. Div. 2015), aff'd in part, rev'd
in part, 229 N.J. 541 (2017).  I have attached both of those reports from
our file, with driver's license and license plate numbers redacted as
confidential personal identifiers pursuant to R. 1:38-3(a) and N.J.S.A.
47:1A-1.1.  If your request for "MVA reports" was intended differently or
more expansively, please provide that clarification.

Social security, driver's license, and phone numbers are redacted from the
arrest report and complaint-warrant, in accordance with N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1

Driver's license and license plate numbers are redacted from
complaint-summonses 109396, 109397, and 109398  in accordance with R.
1:38-3(a) and N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1.

I understand your request for “affidavits of probable cause” to refer to
the affidavit commonly used to support issuance of a criminal complaint. 
Our file in this matter does not contain such an affidavit of probable
cause and does not contain a preliminary law enforcement incident report;
requests for both therefore are denied for lack of responsive records. 

Respectfully,

Mary Juliano

Assistant Prosecutor

-----Original Message-----
From: Resident <[OPRA #18104 email]>
Sent: Monday, October 26, 2020 3:42 PM
To: Mary Juliano <[email address]>
Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL]OPRA request - Case reports

Dear Ms. Juliano,

Thank you for your quick response. I'm sorry for any confusion in my
original request! While my first sentence started off with "All
reports/documents/records pertaining to the following defendant", I then
narrowed down the request to the exact documents I wanted in the next
sentence: "Please include any relevant MVA reports, arrest reports, global
subject activity reports, preliminary law enforcement incident reports,
complaint warrants, complaint summons, affidavits, indictments, criminal
information forms, plea forms, sentencing information."

I'm still pretty new to OPRA requests, so I try to model them on previous
OPRA Machine requests. Going forward, I see that the first sentence
doesn't really need to be included, so if I have any future requests, I
will be more specific.  Thanks for the suggestion!

Yours sincerely,

Resident

-----Original Message-----

Thank you for your response.

You do not need to submit a separate email. The below clarification is
fine.

I had not reviewed the request or AP Bycsek's response, but my Office
routinely provides the documents that she did, in response to OPRA
requests for them.

Your original request was different; it was for "all
reports/documents/records," not limited to the specific records that Ms.
Bycsek provided.

Additionally, the reference in my email to your identification as
"Resident" pertained to your request under the common law, not under OPRA.
Unlike OPRA, the common law takes into account the status of the person
that is requesting access to records and the reason for the request. K.LO.
v. Evesham Twp Bd. of Educ., 423 N.J. Super. 337, 359-60 (App. Div. 2011),
certif. denied, 210 N.J. 108 (2012). You are free to withhold your
identity and your interest in the records that you are seeking; this will
affect your right of access under the common law, not under OPRA.

I will process your amended request within the normal 7 business days
permitted by N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(i)(1).

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this UNIQUE email address for all replies to this request and
no other:

[1][OPRA #18104 email]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[2]https://opramachine.com/help/officers

View this OPRA request & responses online:

[3]https://opramachine.com/request/case_rep...

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.

If you find this service useful as an OPRA custodian, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's website.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTICE OF CONFIDENTIALITY This message, including any prior messages and
attachments, may contain advisory, consultative and/or deliberative
material, confidential information or privileged communications of the
Office of the Monmouth County Prosecutor. Access to this message by anyone
other than the sender and the intended recipient(s) is unauthorized. If
you are not the intended recipient of this message, any disclosure,
copying, distribution or action taken or not taken in reliance on it,
without the expressed written consent of the Office of the Monmouth County
Prosecutor, is prohibited. If you have received this message in error, you
should not save, scan, transmit, print, use or disseminate this message or
any information contained in this message in any way and you should
promptly delete or destroy this message and all copies of it. Please
notify the sender by return e-mail if you have received this message in
error.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[OPRA #18104 email]
2. https://opramachine.com/help/officers
3. https://opramachine.com/request/case_rep...

hide quoted sections