PaFOIC

Denied: Case records not in Dept. of State's possession

Denied: A request to the Department of State for copies of records related to a criminal court case the requester was involved in.
From the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition

Denied:
A request to the Department of State for copies of records related to a criminal court case the requester was involved in.

The DOS told the requester that it was not in possession of the records requested, and provided an affidavit to that effect to the Office of Open Records upon the requester's appeal.

The OOR agreed the DOS had met its burden of proving it did not have the records requested:

"Therefore, the citizen’s appeal is denied; however, the OOR is not determining whether the records do not exist in a different agency. The citizen is not precluded from making a right-to-know request to a different agency that may have the records. It appears from the citizen’s exhibits that the Erie County District Attorney’s Office may have responsive records."

Austin vs. Department of State -- AP 2009-0303