Friday, July 22, 2016

Wolfgang Halbig's FOIA ruling

Freedom of Information Commission (FOIC) - Connecticut

On February 18, 2016 Wolfgang Halbig appealed to the FOIC for the release of documents related to the Sandy Hook Shooting.  The commission has published it's proposed decision.

"30 day" false claim by Wolfgang
As an aside, Wolfgang Halbig and his crew are claiming that the Hearing Officer only had 30 days to issue a ruling. As with nearly everything Halbig and his agents state, the claim is false and simply made to beef up donations. There is no rule that the Commission must issue a decision within 30 days after a contested hearing.  You can review the rules here:
http://www.ct.gov/foi/cwp/view.asp?a=4163&Q=488942

Bottom Line
The bottom line of the decision:
 If the Appeals court overturns the Altimari decision, Wolfgang might get the Dash Cams.  FOIC ruled against him on the officer affidavits.



Wolfgang's matter will be heard July 27, 2016 at 2:00 pm in Hartford. Newtown schools would do well to be ready since Wolfgang is again promising to bring a film crew and hoaxers are simply unpredictable.

Quick background

Uncharacteristically, Wolfgang's at-issue FOIA requests were actually intelligible.
The hearing was covered here:
http://sandyhookanalysis.blogspot.com/2016/02/wolfgang-halbig-foia-hearing-vs.html

The hearing concerned many items Sandy Hook Facts had requested via FOIA in the past.

Wolfgang receives a duck from InfoWars - Dan Bidondi after a hearing

Wolfgang's Whopper
This hearing also saw Wolfgang tell a whopper in what appeared to be an attempt to sway the commission with a false, exaggerated claim of experience.  


Dash Cams and Police Witness Statements
Wolfgang's appeal concerned two sets of items: Dash cams and sworn police statements. 

First request: Dash cams from the vehicles of Newtown Officers Bahamonde, Chapman, and Seabrook, and Sinko.  

Newtown refuses to release their copies of the Chapman and Bahamonde videos claiming they would expose minor's identities and are thus exempt.  Seabrook and Sinko's Dash Cams were previously released.  CSP is in possession of copies of all the videos, having seized them as part of the Sandy Hook investigation.  Wolfgang attempted to obtain those seized copies.  CSP refused claiming they were seized evidence and thus exempt.  CSP's claim is the same claim they made in the Altimari  case (discussed below).




Second request:  the "official police reports and affadvits of Chief Kehoe, Captain Rios, Lt. Sinko,  Lt. Robinson, and Lt Vangehele" (sic).

 In the final report, the CSP provided a summary of officer statements and redacted the actual sworn statements themselves claiming they were exempt from release as witness statements.  Wolfgang requested the full statements.


The Ruling

The commissions full ruling is here:


Dash Cams - Not surprisingly, the commissioner ruled as he indicated at the hearing itself: the dash cams must be released.  The ruling was stayed pending the Altimari appeal decision since the items requested by Halbig were similarly seized and in the possession of CSP.

The Altimari ruling was covered here:

In summary, if the Appeals Court overturns the Superior Court decision and orders the Sandy Hook shooter's home documents released from Connecticut State Police (CSP) to the Hartford Courant, Wolfgang might get his dash cams. If the appeals process upholds the Superior Court rulings, Wolfgang will not get the Dash Cams.

I will point out that there is a potential "Ace in the hole" that has not been played by Connecticut that could come into play.  Although Newtown did not make the objection at the hearing, at some point they could attempt to intervene based on safety of the minors (as to the Chapman and Bahamonde videos) and the exemption that makes releasing a minor's identity exempt.  This card was not played by Connecticut since CSP's attorney claimed never to have watched the videos.


Officer Statements 
CSP would not release the statements claiming that witness statements are exempt.  The commissioner agreed, ruling that the statements of Newtown Officers taken by Connecticut State Police were witness statements and therefore not subject to disclosure.

While SHF agrees officers statements are witness statements, Sandy Hook Facts disagrees with this ruling at a base personal level.  This appears to be a loop hole in the law.  That said,  I do not believe hoaxers should be given any more information to abuse Newtown residents or to line Wolfgang's pockets with cash.  There has already been more information formally released about the Sandy Hook shooting than any other mass shooting in history.


Empty Handed
At the end of the day, Wolfgang will once again walk away empty handed.



Appeal
Wolfgang could file an appeal. Last time, Wolfgang quickly abandoned his appeal; completely giving up, despite promises made to followers.  Instead of using donor money to pursue appeals of Sandy Hook documents, he used it to file a anti-free speech lawsuit against bloggers.
http://civilinquiry.jud.ct.gov/CaseDetail/PublicCaseDetail.aspx?DocketNo=HHBCV156030218S


The Hartford Courant's appeal
The appeal by Dave Altimari and the Hartford Courant was filed 4/28/16 and remains pending.  Altimari indicated to SHF he would take it all the way to the Supreme Court.  Let's hope he does!


Fugitive Hunt Hearing Drama
Halbig's last FOI hearing featured law enforcement drama as the State Police attempting to bring Jonathan Reich to justice!  Will we see a repeat?

Jonathan Reich  has a confirmed warrant for his arrest for $100,000.  Jonathan Reich is currently in hiding, avoiding his prosecution in a pending phone harassment case since his Failure to Appear in December 2015!



At the last hearing, Reich's friend (and Halbig's driver from the St Rose incident), hoaxer conspiracy theorist Cory Sklanka (aka Sleight of Sin) of Middletown, CT was reportedly sitting in the hearing happily spitting chewing tobacco into a Dunkin' Donuts cup when State Troopers escorted him to the hallway and questioned him as part of their ongoing fugitive hunt.  According to one witness, Sklanka was so scared his lip was quivering and hands shaking as he returned to his Dunkin' spitune and seat. Cory Sklana, scared though he may have been, did not break and reveal the location of his hiding buddy.

Will the fugitive be apprehended or will he avoid Sandy Hook Phone Harassment Justice, the hearings ,and showing his support to Hablig by hiding in New York?  We shall see!


Hoaxer Cory Sklanka, conspiracy theorist leader Wolfgang Halbig's personnal driver,
 appears to be showing off his new phone to his fellow hoaxers.




Full Proposed Final Decision

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fact is, even if they got everything they ever wanted, it still won't bring back the innocent 20 first graders or their 6 brave teachers. These people are deluded, misguided idiots who have no footing in reality.

SandyHookFacts.com said...

They wont look at evidence, just figure out how to twist lies for fundraising

Anonymous said...

A FTA ... many people get these. While one should show up for court some don't. Go to traffic court and watch .. about 10-20% are FTA. Its a small fine and the case moves forward in most cases. The author appears to have a lot of hate for these people. Sure they may say things that offend but its clear that the governments are hiding records too. This feeds the flames. Sometimes where there's flames there's fire.