West v. Ion Media Networks, Inc.

Case Number: 2024CA1416

Court: Colorado Court of Appeals

Client: Ion Media Networks (Scripps News)

Background: On March 27, 2023, three uniformed police officers in the city of Lakewood, Colorado, shot and killed 17-year-old Mariana Martinez in response to a report of an armed robbery. Lakewood Police Department officials originally said that Martinez had fired her weapon at the officers. However, they later withdrew that statement, saying Martinez had only pointed a gun at the officers. A district attorney ultimately concluded that the shooting was justified.

After Martinez’s family sued the police department, Scripps News reporter Lori Jane Gliha submitted a request to the city of Lakewood seeking access to police body-worn camera footage that captured the confrontation between police officers and Martinez. Gliha sought to obtain the recordings under Colorado’s Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Act, a law passed in the wake of the 2020 police killings of George Floyd and Elijah McClain that affords the public prompt access to bodycam footage of the death of a civilian following any complaint of police misconduct. 

The city denied the reporter’s request, claiming it was required to do so in order to protect Martinez’s privacy interests. 

In January 2024, Scripps News sued the city of Lakewood for access to the bodycam recordings. The District Court of Jefferson County largely ruled in the news organization’s favor, ordering the city to turn over the footage after blurring the face of Martinez. After unsuccessfully asking the district court to reconsider its decision, the city appealed to the Colorado Court of Appeals.

Represented by Rachael Johnson, the Colorado Local Legal Initiative attorney for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and attorney Steven Zansberg, Scripps News argues, among other things, that the district court correctly determined that bodycam footage depicting the police killing of Martinez must be disclosed under the state’s Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Act.

Filings: 

2024-02-01: First amended complaint

2024-12-27: Ion Media’s answer brief