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Zimmermann 911 call on hold
Judge schedules private hearing to determine fate of call from victim’s cell
BECKY VEVEA/Herald photo
Kevin and Jean Zimmermann speak with their lawyer before addressing court Wednesday afternoon.
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The family of slain University of Wisconsin student Brittany Zimmermann said Wednesday they oppose the release of the audio from the 911 call made from their daughter’s cell phone on the day she was killed.
In a court hearing between Dane County and several media companies — including the Wisconsin State Journal and WISC-TV — Dane County Circuit Court Judge Richard Niess ruled to seal the audio until a private hearing.
“The Zimmermanns do have a very strong interest in the outcome of these decisions,” said Robert Elliott, the family’s lawyer.
The companies filed the lawsuit after being denied more than 20 open records requests to obtain documents with information related to the Zimmermann homicide investigation and the mishandling of the 911 call.
The hearing Wednesday was scheduled when media lawyer April Barker filed a motion for the immediate release of the audio after several search warrants with details from the investigation were made public last week.
The warrants included a sworn statement from a police officer saying the 911 call began with “sounds of a woman screaming and sounds of a struggle for a short period of time.”
Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard requested to intervene in the lawsuit on behalf of the city of Madison. Niess ruled early in the hearing to allow the intervention.
Dane County Corporation Counsel Marcia Mackenzie said the report from the 911 internal investigation was released last week after a recent open records request, but the names of other 911 callers had been blacked out and the four-page interview was withheld.
Niess ruled to release four pages from the internal investigation with the approval of Rita Gahagan, the dispatcher who took the call from Zimmermann’s phone.
Niess also ordered the release of calls made by Zimmermann’s fiancé, Jordan Gonnering, when he discovered her body, as well as the calls made immediately after the call from Zimmermann’s phone, which caused police to investigate the wrong suspects for two weeks.
After more details were made public last week, the Dane County Public Safety Communications Center released a statement saying they “found no evidence the dispatcher who took a call from Ms. Zimmermann’s cell phone heard anything that indicated an emergency was occurring.”
According to parts of the 911 Center internal investigation documents, the call from Zimmermann’s phone lasted 57 seconds and the location of the phone was determined within 24 seconds. No return call was made, violating center policy.
Niess said after the hearing, scheduled for next Friday, the media lawyers can make a recommendation to their clients on how to proceed.
Capt. Carl Gloede of the Madison Police Department carried a CD with the 911 audio on it to Niess, where he sealed it until next week’s hearing.
Niess said he had heard a recording of the audio but believes it may not have included all parts of the call.
“My role under this statute is to decide what the public interest is,” Niess said. “We have information in the tapes that I didn’t hear, but they’re going to tell me somehow, that it’s in there, that is critical to the Zimmermann murder investigation.”
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can someone please explain to me why releasing these tapes is such a big deal to the media and public?….. i just dont understand why people are making such a huge deal over this.
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It’s all a part of the “let’s all be nosy in other people’s business” attitude people in today’s society have. Let’s relish in the misfortunes of others. They really need to show some respect. They should be beaten senseless. I will make sure to invite media for proper coverage.
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this issue has grown to be about more than just brittany zimmerman. i’m sorry, but i would rather be an informed citizen, equipped with knowledge to make decisions that would help prevent another careless performance by the police department. how is it respectful to brittany or her family to turn our heads from the malpractice that may have cost her life.
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I think people want to hear the tape to get a better idea of what the 911 operator heard before determining if the 911 operator acted resonably or if s/he was woefully incompetant.
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True, it is important to have the tape reviewed to determine if the operator, police department, whoever acted erroneously, so policies/practices/people can be changed if necessary. But is it something that should immediately be open to “trial” by the general public. Maybe there is something in the tape that unfortunately was missed, but now is evidence. This is of course speculation, but if it is the situation wouldn’t it damage a potential investigation and case? How respectful would that be to Brittany or her family. Just a thought.
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Why is it in the “public interest” to hear a person screaming for their life? As a person in the public, I do not care to hear this poor girl’s final moments of her life.
We all know that her call was mishandled, does playing it for the public make us think different?
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Dane County officials commissioned two seperate reports analyzing the 911 center. BOTH reports outlined problems that needed to be addressed. Kathleen Faulk did not do anything about these concerns. Two years later, Zimmerman was murdered. One of the focal points of the case was a botched call she made in her last moments. The Dane County Supervisor, Kathleen Faulk made public statements following the case where she said, there was nothing on the tape. The Madison police department, who is investigating the case, said there was something on the tape that the 911 operator should have keyed on. So now, either Kathleen Faulk the Dane County Supervisor is LYING and this is part of a cover up, or the Madison Police Dept is LYING to smear Kathleen Faulk. The ONLY way for the public, that is you and me, to decide what happened is to hear the tape. This is important because Kathleen Faulk is running for reelection this year, and do we want a county supervisor who is a lier and whose mismanagement possibly cost a UW-Madison student her life, to be reelected? This case is important because the county government is failing, and they are trying to cover up the failures to protect those in office. If there was nothing on the tape, like Faulk said, then what is there to worry about? There isn’t sounds of a struggle. Wake up Madison!, you take the time to comment on a news story fed to you and made yo upset, but you won’t take the time to investigate the issue and see what is really at stake here. I think that not learning from Zimmerman’s case, correcting the mistakes, and holding our elected officials responsible is the true INJUSTICE being done here; not whether not the public should hear a tape.