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Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Local Issues Obituaries Weather Archive Revels Etcetera Backpage Hot Topics Most Viewed Forum Photo Galleries Video Readers Polls O-Zone Online Games Movie Preview Special Sections Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad August 25, 2005 D.A. rules city must turn over Binder file But interviews with Bianca, officers are protected by attorney-client privilege By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings Split decision District Attorney Mark Huddleston ruled today that part of the city’s report about police conduct during a 45-minute standoff on April 22 with Ashland resident Dirk Binder is protected under attorney-client privleges, but other parts are not and must be given to the Tidings. Confidential : • Interview with Police Chief Mike Bianca • Interviews with police personnel • Memo written by City Attorney Mike Frannell, dated June 8, 2005 Public : • Interviews with witnesses • Police reports and radio traffic logs The City of Ashland must hand over a portion of its internal review of the police department’s handling of the April 22 incident involving Dirk Binder to the Ashland Daily Tidings, Jackson County District Attorney Mark Huddleston ruled this morning. City Attorney Mike Franell has one week to produce transcripts of witness interviews, as well as disclose police reports and radio traffic logs contained in the file. The city will honor Huddleston’s decision and release the documents to the Tidings by 9 a.m. Friday, Franell said this morning. Franell will not be required to release interviews with APD Chief Mike Bianca and other officers involved in the incident, nor will the Tidings receive a copy of the June 8 memo Franell sent to City Administrator Gino Grimaldi summarizing the city’s investigation. Attorney-client privilege exempts the police interviews from public disclosure, Huddleston ruled, because APD officers are representatives of the City of Ashland, which is considered Franell’s client. The memo, deemed a “confidential communication” by Huddleston, is also protected by attorney-client privilege. Franell was pleased Huddleston did not require the city disclose officer interviews because he wants the police to feel comfortable to “be as frank as possible” when discussing serious incidents. “I think the D.A. did a fairly good job as far as his determination,” Franell said. “The only thing that I would have protected would have been all of my interviews with everybody, including the two citizens I interviewed, but they didn’t really have a lot to say.” The Tidings will not appeal Huddleston’s ruling. “We will respect the district attorney’s decision,” Tidings’ editor Andrew Scot Bolsinger said. “It’s hard to know what we’re not getting, but certainly the police officers involved can go on the record if they believe their comments are pertinent to the issues faced by the department.” The Tidings, Bolsinger said, issued its Freedom of Information Act request on Aug. 22 after the Ashland Police Association was denied access to the report by Grimaldi. The Tidings dropped its original request for the report in June as part of a compromise with the city. The city in turn gave a summary of its findings to the newspaper. But members of the police association — a collective bargaining unit comprised of non-management officers and employees — believed Grimaldi had misrepresented the report. “We decided to make this request because of the level of public concern about the handling of the Binder incident,” Bolsinger said. “Today’s ruling will help us to report on those events.” Mayor John Morrison and Grimaldi have both reviewed the documents, and Bianca has read the summary page. Other police officers have been denied access to the file. Though city officials deny any connection between the Binder incident and ongoing turmoil within the police department, police association members told Grimaldi that Bianca is not providing the department with adequte leadership to Grimaldi in May, according to APD officer Steve MacLennan. Those issues were first handled internally, but officers felt it necessary to bring their concerns into the public forum when Bianca took a four-week health-related leave of absence in June. The police association took a no-confidence vote in Bianca’s leadership ability on July 10 and called for his removal in letter addressed to elected city officials that day. The investigation, completed by Franell at Grimaldi’s request, reportedly details the sequence of events that played out when police officers from Ashland and Talent and Jackson County sheriff’s deputies surrounded Binder’s apartment. Staff writer Jennifer Squires can be reached at 482-3456 x 3019 or [email protected]. --> Copyright © 2006 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved.