Court rules public business on prosecutor’s private phone is still public

Call records and text messages from Pierce County (WA) Prosecutor Mark Lindquist’s personal mobile phone aren’t private if they’re related to public business.

The idea drives a unanimous ruling issued Tuesday by the Washington State Court of Appeals. “That such government-business-related text messages were contained on a personal cellular phone is irrelevant,” states the ruling, authored by Judge J. Robin Hunt.

The decision adds new reasoning to a growing list of cases that address government officials’ use of private devices to conduct public business, and the implications for the public’s right to know. Continue>>>
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