Since more details regarding the Brittany Zimmermann homicide investigation were made public Tuesday, several media outlets have continued to push for the release of the audio of the 911 phone call made by Zimmermann on the day she was killed.
Several media outlets, including the Wisconsin State Journal and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, filed a lawsuit last May against the Dane County Public Safety Communications Center and the Madison Police Department to have access to records regarding the 911 call.
After officials allowed the seals on seven search warrants to expire, April Barker, the media outlets’ attorney, filed a motion Tuesday morning requesting officials immediately release the audio file, a report on the mishandling of the call and e-mail correspondence regarding the incident.
“We would think there should not be any further argument,” Barker said. “It’s hard to say [whether] the county would agree with us or not.”
Barker added her clients filed a number of open records requests, none of which were granted.
Marcia MacKenzie, attorney for the Corporation Council who is defending the Dane County Public Safety Communication Center, said the county sent a letter to Dane County Circuit Court Judge Richard Niess to request a court hearing on the lawsuit.
“The County therefore requests that the Court hear this matter at its earliest possible convenience,” MacKenzie said in the letter to Niess.
Barker’s request cited a statement by Capt. Mary Schauf of MPD that “the release of the information will not significantly affect any ongoing criminal investigation,” according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Schauf said she did not see any harm in having the details of the search warrants released, but did not think the 911 audio should be released.
“The 911 tape is considered a piece of evidence, and there’s still legitimate reasons to have that withheld,” Schauf said, adding that the fate of the audio will be debated in the court hearing.
Barker said Niess sent a letter with a tentative hearing scheduled for next week but is waiting for confirmation from the Corporation Council of Dane County to move forward with the hearing.
The fact that the county agreed to have an immediate hearing, Barker said, indicates they may be open to discussing or even allowing the release of the information.
“We’ll just have to see what their position is,” Barker said.
MacKenzie said in a statement that Madison police investigators and the District Attorney are reviewing whether release of the audio recording of a 911 call would hinder the ongoing investigation.
Neither Niess nor Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard returned calls regarding the lawsuit or the tentative hearing.
Madison Police Department spokesperson Joel DeSpain released a statement Tuesday calling the failure to extend the warrants’ seal an oversight.
“Although it is hard to quantify what impact there might be from the release of any particular piece of information, detectives don’t believe the unsealing of these search warrant affidavits will jeopardize their case,” DeSpain said.
