KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Knox County Sheriff's Office must try to find and produce public emails from early 2019 about its dealings with a federal immigration detention program and must start working promptly on a system to make its arrest records readily available for inspection to the general public, a Knox County chancellor has ruled.
Also, the Sheriff's Office is partially on the hook to pay attorneys fees to a University of Tennessee sociology profession who has been legally fighting a year to get public records about KCSO and its participation in the federal 287(g) program in which local law enforcement agencies can partner with the government to identify and detail illegal immigrants, Chancellor John Weaver found.
The department also needs to follow the state's public records laws, Weaver wrote.
RELATED: UT researcher suing the Knox Co. Sheriff over 287(g) immigration enforcement records access
Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Kimberly Glenn said the sheriff was waiting to consult with county lawyers before commenting on next steps.
Andrew Fels represented Professor Meghan Conley in the fight.
"In this instance, the law is simple: every Tennessean has the right to investigate the records and communications of their elected officials," he said. "Thanks to the chancellor's ruling, every citizen of the state will be able to inspect the records of the Knox County Sheriff in the manner intended by the legislature."
Deborah Fisher, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, said Monday that Weaver's decision was "an important win for access to public records."
"Chancellor Weaver recognized that there were major problems in how the Knox County sheriff’s department was handling public records requests and put them under immediate court order to change their ways," Fisher's statement reads.
Weaver issued his order April 9 following the court fight between Conley and the Sheriff's Office. Conley has been trying to get records about the county's participation in the 287(g) program since 2017, when Sheriff Jimmy "J.J." Jones still was in office.
The chancellor's order gives Conley some but not all of what she wanted.
Weaver, who held numerous hearings over the year to review facts raised by both sides, noted it had been a frustrating debate in a case "replete with tortuous twists and turns."
His ruling is more than 40 pages long.
Knox County began taking part in the program under Sheriff Jones. Sheriff Tom Spangler, elected in 2018, has continued participation.
Some in the Knoxville community have protested the department helping federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement track and identify local illegal immigrants, who routinely -- at least before the virus crisis -- showed up on the department's arrest log.
Conley is studying immigration enforcement in the Southeast as well as the 287(g) program.
Weaver said KCSO must specifically comply with public records laws that address public records requests and also "promptly" provide a written reason why it cannot provide the records if they're unavailable.
They're to look to find email records for Conley from January 2019 through March 2019 -- shortly before she filed suit -- involving correspondence between numerous KCSO personnel including Spangler, his chief assistant Bernie Lyon and spokeswoman Kimberly Glenn. If they can't find any, they're to notify Conley's lawyer Andrew Fels within seven days that none exist.
KCSO contended it didn't keep a lot of what she wanted.
Also, Weaver wrote, KCSO is barred from "treating any written request for inspection or copies generally phrased in terms of information sought as insufficient for lack of specificity or detail." That was a point of contention in the court fight.
Fisher said Weaver wanted to ensure the public doesn't face unnecessary hurdles in requesting records from the sheriff.
"The judge rejected the sheriff's arguments that he could deny records requests as being overly broad, and also when they were too specific because it would create a burden in sorting through files to look for a specific record," Fisher said. "I think Weaver recognized how the sheriff’s reasoning thwarted any meaningful access to public records and undermined the public records law.
In designing a system for records access, Weaver ordered that KCSO must find a way formally to "produce its arrest records on a current basis for inspection and viewing by citizens with confidential information redacted and shall complete implementation of the manual system or computer program or system within a reasonable period of time..."
Weaver said that aspect of his order, however, will be suspended while county coronavirus orders or Gov. Bill Lee's safer at home directive for non-essential businesses remain in effect.
Attorneys fees due to Conley can be determined at a future court hearing, he said.