Orange County is asking a court to seal its internal records of investigations regarding allegations of sexual misconduct by former official Chris Bustamante. The Voice of OC had requested the records, but the County has claimed that releasing the files would violate Bustamante’s right to a fair trial and violate the City’s attorney-client privilege.
Now, the County is asking a judge to codify their decision and endorse a new process for handling these claims that involves an unnamed law firm that would investigate on the County’s behalf. So doing would further shield records from public disclosure.
However, the California constitution allows for the public disclosure of documents related to the people’s business, and the Voice of OC says that nothing bars these documents from disclosure.
Some of the information that the Voice of OC is seeking includes details of the County’s timeline. Bustamante was confronted with the contents of the allegations months before the issue was turned over to the District Attorney.
Read the full article at the Voice of OC.