Kentucky’s Attorney General has issued an opinion that Whitley County Sheriff Lawrence Hodge violated the Open Records Act by failing to respond to a request and failing without explanation to provide a copy of a police report.
According to the open records decision on the matter, Dolly Bunch appealed to the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office when she did not receive a response from Hodge to a request Bunch had made for the police report relating to the 2005 death of her son, James Bunch.
When Attorney General Jack Conway’s Office contacted Whitley County Attorney Paul Winchester on the matter, Winchester said that he thought the police report had been provided and that he would send Conway’s Office a copy. According to the decision, no letter was received and Winchester did not answer telephone messages left by the Attorney General’s Office.
Kentucky’s Attorney General has found that Hodge violated the Open Records Act before when he did not respond to a request to access a list of his auxilary deputies.