Section 119 of the Florida Statutes provides that records maintained by any public agency be released upon request by any person, either private, or public, or to the media. There are, of course, certain exemptions. Any case considered to be an active investigation will not be released until the charges have been filed by the State Attorney’s Office and discovery on the case has been released to defense counsel. If the case is not filed on, or is later nolle prossed, the information will be available at that time.
There are numerous exemptions within Section 119 of the Florida Statutes. The most common are: 1) Confessions and admissions made by the accused are not public record until closure of the case; 2) Surveillance video of any kind is confidential and exempted and will never be released; 3) Medical records contained in case files will never be released without a waiver of confidentiality signed by the person to whom the records pertain; 4) Any victim identifying information; 5) Any interview, or the substance of an interview pertaining to a child victim 6) Criminal history or criminal intelligence gathered from law enforcement.
The State Attorney’s office has a retention policy for the records as follows: Misdemeanor cases are retained for 2 years from the closure of the case; Felony cases: 3rd degree felony-5 years, 2nd degree felony-15 years, 1st degree felony-30 years; Capital cases are never destroyed.
Section 119 of the Florida Statutes allows the imposition of reasonable fees to process a records request. The State Attorneys Office charges the following: $25.00 an hour for production and redaction of the records, $3.00 per disc and $6.00 per flash drive and $0.15 per printed page. The fees apply universally to all requestors, including those deemed indigent by the Court. Our Public Records Department will provide an estimate of any expected charges when each request is made. We only accept cash, check or money order for the exact amount.
Any and all public records requests shall be directed to:
All members of the public:
Assistant State Attorney Jody P. Brown
Email: Jpbrown@sao20.org
Phone: 239-533-1228
Any and all Media:
Samantha Syoen, Communications Director
Email: Ssyoen@sao20.org
Phone: (239) 533-1125