The Oklahoma Supreme Court has ruled state broadcasters are entitled under the Open Records Act to a surveillance video of Oklahoma running back Joe Mixon punching another student.
Justices ruled in favor of the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters on a technical point, rather than the association's original legal arguments. The Supreme Court found the video is an open record because a judge watched it during a court hearing last year.
The judge had ruled in February that the video was not part of the official court record. In a one-page order Monday, the Supreme Court specifically overturned that ruling and allowed the broadcasters association to proceed in its request for access "in accordance with the Open Records Act."
The broadcasters association in 2014 sued for access to the video on legal grounds. Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman last year dismissed the lawsuit, ruling the video was not public because it did not depict an arrest or the cause of the arrest.
The Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals on Feb. 22 agreed with the judge on that legal ground, ruling the video is not a public arrest record because Mixon surrendered to authorities. However, the Court of Civil Appeal returned the issue to the judge to consider another legal ground.
The Court of Civil Appeals also pointed out the video is part of the court file, since the judge viewed it during a hearing, and that it should be accessible to any member of the public from the court clerk.
The broadcasters association the next day asked the Cleveland County court clerk for a copy of the video but the judge ruled Feb. 25 that it was not part of the court record. "The video was never introduced as an exhibit nor was it a material act and proceeding of the court," the judge wrote. "The surveillance video should remain in the custody of the city of Norman."
The broadcasters association asked the Supreme Court to review both Balkman's ruling that the video was not part of the court record and the Court of Civil Appeals' decision that the video was not a public arrest record.
Justices voted 6-3 to overturn Balkman. One of the dissenting justices said the broadcasters association is attempting to obtain access to the video "via shortcut, bypassing the legal questions that put the video before the trial court in the first place: the interpretation and application of the Open Records Act."
Justices have not ruled on whether the Court of Civil Appeals' ruling is correct.