What is DPD Hiding in the Huff Shooting?
Last Updated: August 09. 2010 1:00AM
Detroit withholds records in cop's shooting death
Releasing information on 911 call could taint a jury pool, city says
George Hunter and Doug Guthrie / The Detroit News
Detroit -- Authorities controlling the investigation of Detroit Police Officer Brian Huff's shooting death have refused for months to disclose routinely public information, claiming there are elements of the case which haven't been reported that could be explosive if released.
Huff was gunned down May 3 while investigating a 911 call from a woman who reportedly claimed someone had broken into the vacant duplex next door and fired gunshots.
But there is something else about the conversation with an emergency dispatcher that police and prosecutors are fighting to keep under wraps. Whatever it is could cause "widespread publicity" and taint a jury pool, Detroit's Assistant Corporation Counsel Ellen Ha has said in letters explaining why the city won't release information sought by The Detroit News under the state's Freedom of Information Act.
"The 911 recording contains information that has not been disclosed," Ha wrote in her denial of The News' requests. "The release of the 911 recording could cause widespread publicity, which may cause potential jurors to reach premature opinions."
Ha also wrote that releasing the 911 and dispatch audio recordings "would deprive a person or persons of the right to a fair trial or impartial administrative adjudication."
Curt Benson, a professor at Cooley School of Law in Lansing, said the city's response is unusual.
"I really don't know what to make of the city's response," he said. "I know police routinely release 911 tapes. Why they're not doing it here, I don't know."
Ha said the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office asked Wayne Circuit Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway to seal information about the case. Hathaway signed a protective order June 23.
Jason Gibson, 25, has been the only suspect named in Huff's slaying. Gibson is charged with murder for allegedly shooting Huff as the officer walked through the front door of the vacant duplex. Gibson also faces charges in the wounding of three more officers. Gibson's trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 18.
But there is more to the case, Ha said. In denying The News request, she wrote, "The investigation to this point has disclosed the likely commission of criminal acts by one or more persons who have not been arrested."
The News reported in May that investigators were seeking at least one other suspect: The getaway driver who allegedly aided Gibson. Sources told The News that the pair planned to rip off the duplex, which was believed to be a "dope stash house." When arrested after being shot in the buttocks, Gibson had a large bag of marijuana hidden inside his shirt, police said.
More 'than meets the eye'
Ha's letter was the first official acknowledgement that others are wanted in connection with the case.
"There obviously is something more going on here than meets the eye," said Detroit News lawyer James E. Stewart, who has more than 30 years' experience in fighting for government records.
"I understand the sensitivity when there is an unapprehended suspect at large, especially when it was a police officer who was slain," Stewart said. "But the extent to which authorities have circled the wagons in this case is unprecedented."
Huff's uncle T.W. Bankston of Oak Park said his nephew told him a few weeks before he was killed that he was having "problems with the job."
"He didn't go into detail," Bankston said. "He just said, 'Pray for me because there's a lot of stuff going on at work.' "
Bankston said the problems were so acute, Huff drove to San Diego to interview for a position with that city's police force.
"I don't know exactly what's going on, but there are some things I feel are suspicious," Bankston said.
Bankston questioned why Huff did not draw his gun before entering the duplex, despite reports that Huff and his partner rushed to the scene because they considered it too dangerous for rookie officers to handle alone.
"Brian obviously felt comfortable walking into that place without pulling out his gun," Bankston said. "Was it just something he just forgot to do? I don't buy that. This supposedly was a dangerous situation. Something isn't right, and with the city hiding so much information, it makes you wonder what's going on."
Telling different stories
The official version of events did not jibe with testimony during Gibson's June 4 preliminary examination in the city's 36th District Court.
Former Police Chief Warren Evans said during a press conference hours after the shooting that a neighbor, later identified as Danielle Jameson, had dialed 911 after hearing gunshots in the vacant duplex next door on Schoenherr.
But Jameson's husband, Paul Jameson, testified in court that he didn't hear shots.
Evans said Huff and his partner, Officer Joseph D'Angelo, were not dispatched to the scene, but rushed to get there to aid inexperienced officers who had been assigned to investigate the reported break-in and shooting. Plainclothes Officers John Dunlap and Bryan Glover also rushed to the scene, Evans said.
According to written police reports reviewed by The News, at least 10 officers responded within eight minutes of the original dispatch, including Alan Johnson, Derrick Metcalf, Wayne Brown and Anthony Byrd, none of whom testified at Gibson's preliminary exam.
Officers Steve Schram and Kaspar Harrison -- the only unit actually dispatched to the run -- testified during Gibson's preliminary exam that they were the last to get there.
There also was conflicting testimony about whether there were more suspects at the duplex that morning. D'Angelo testified when he and Huff arrived, the neighbor, Paul Jameson, told him, "They're going out the back."
D'Angelo said he climbed a side fence into the backyard to look for the men who were supposedly escaping.
But when Jameson was asked on the witness stand if he saw anyone running out of the back of the duplex, he said he hadn't.
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100809/...#ixzz0w6ImiAmq
