'Secret police' or a right to anonymity? Florida Supreme Court to decide future of Marsy's Law
In a case with major implications for police accountability across the Sunshine State, the Florida Supreme Court will decide whether police officers have the right to remain anonymous under Marsy’s Law when they use deadly force in the line of duty.
Justices will hear oral arguments Wednesday in a legal dispute sparked by a pair of fatal shootings of armed suspects in 2020 by Tallahassee police officers. The case pits the city of Tallahassee, which wants to release the officers’ names, against its own Police Department, which wants to keep the names confidential.
Killed in the shootings were Wilbon Woodard, who attacked a man and charged at officers with a hunting knife May 19, 2020, outside a North Monroe Street restaurant, and Tony McDade, a Black transgender man who stabbed a neighbor’s son to death before raising a gun at an officer. McDade’s death, which happened only two days after George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, made headlines amid national Black Lives Matter protests.
After a Leon County grand juror cleared officers in the two shootings, the city was poised to identify them in response to public records requests from the Tallahassee Democrat and other news outlets. However, the Florida Police Benevolent Association, which represents the two officers, filed an injunction to block release of their names.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/secret-police-anonymity-florida-supreme-100516424.html