Tallahassee Democrat by Jeff Burlew
March 17, 2019
The group that successfully pushed for Marsy’s Law, a constitutional amendment approved by voters last November giving new rights to crime victims, rolled out a legal opinion saying the names of crime victims can’t be released without their consent.
The opinion came from Barry Richard, a Tallahassee trial attorney who counts Marsy’s Law for Florida as one of his clients. The organization said he issued the opinion at the request of Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, who filed a bill (SB 1426) to implement the law.
But Sunshine Law experts say his opinion doesn’t address confusion among law enforcement agencies on how to interpret Marsy’s Law.
Richard addressed a provision in Marsy’s Law giving crime victims the right to prevent disclosure of records that could be used to locate or harass victims or victims’ family members or disclose confidential or privileged information involving victims.