Retard question here, so is this the county directly countering Josh to say he doesn't have a right to the bodycam due to not being public record on that account?
In effect, kinda, but I think of it more as them at least saying "Null's not entitled to it under this specific subsection".
It could be because the prosecutors actually care and don't believe that Null is entitled to the footage at all, or it could be them realizing that this is a fight that will happen regardless between Nick and Null and they want to make sure the record is as accurate as possible so no fault can be placed at their feet if the footage is released. It takes very little time to draft this and given how public this case is, I wouldn't want some ambiguity from my hearing resulting in footage being released under an inapplicable statute. Hard to tell based solely off the filing what the prosecutor's motivations actually are.
This would simply get rid of the easiest argument for Hardin to get the footage under Section 13.82(7), but 13.82(7) still allows for inactive investigation data to be gotten, including images and recordings, photographs, video, and audio records, unless the data is "clearly offensive to common sensibilities" in which case it's classified as private or nonpublic data.
For an investigation to become inactive, one of the following things has to happen:
1) A decision by the agency or prosecutorial authority to not bring charges (
inapplicable);
2) expiration of the time to bring a charge or file a complaint under the applicable statute of limitations, or 30 years after the commission of the offense, whichever comes earliest (
inapplicable); or
3) exhaustion of or expiration of all rights of appeal by a person convicted on the basis of the investigative data.
Minnesota Criminal Procedure 28.05 gives you 90 days to file a notice of appeal after the judgment has been given and sentence imposed, so Nick's case can't become inactive until at least July 17, 2025 since he was just sentenced on April 18th.
So 13.82(7) appears to still be an avenue for Hardin to get the bodycam, even with the state clarfiying that the bodycam footage wasn't an exhibit, but first it'd have to become inactive and then it becomes contingent on if the court believes that the release of the bodycam footage (even if heavily redacted) would clearly offend the common sensibilities of their shithole state. The court also has to weigh the benefit to Null vs any harm to the public, the agency, or anyone identified in the bodycam footage that would be released. I'm not going to waste time reading cases to find out where the "common sensibilities" line has been drawn in the past regarding bodycam footage of a guilty man's arrest while in his home, but I imagine that Minnesota is probably not as keen on releasing it compared to the average state.