This Is Reno sues the sheriff’s office

Read part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5.

Researching the wide-ranging circumstances that led to the arrest of Joseph and Kera Turner, after the evacuated from the 2021 Dixie Fire in Calif., involved public records requests to the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office. This Is Reno requested bodycam footage of the arrest and copies of evidence logs for the Turners’ property sheriff’s deputies confiscated.

The Nevada Public Records Act mandates five days to produce the records, or the responding agency must provide a legally sufficient reason why the records cannot be released within five days. WCSO sends an auto-generated response saying it will respond to public records orders within 30 days.

This Is Reno has filed several records orders with WCSO, and WCSO either denied the requests, citing matters being open investigations or had extensive delays. Among the records were the documents showing what WCSO had logged of the Turners’ property. The district attorney’s office argued that the issue was moot since the documents were ultimately provided. District Court Judge Tammy Riggs denied This Is Reno’s petition in October. That case was appealed to the Nevada Court of Appeals.

“They defeated the entire purpose of the body cameras.”

The Turners filed a request for the bodycam footage of their arrest and never received it. This Is Reno then filed an order for the bodycam footage in mid-July. In mid-September, This Is Reno notified WCSO’s Bryan Samudio the bodycam footage had never been provided and again requested it of officials—or This Is Reno would file a second lawsuit. 

Samudio did not respond. A new public records lawsuit was filed a week later. Deputy District Attorney Michael Large contacted This Is Reno’s attorney, Luke Busby, offering to settle the case if Large could get the videos to us. WCSO, in turn, provided the bodycam footage. It was heavily redacted, and deputies appeared only to film a short portion of the hours-long arrest the Turners said they experienced.

Joseph said he was appalled by the redactions.

“There is zero legitimate reason for them to constantly turn their body cameras off and on,” he said. “They defeated the entire purpose of the body cameras.”

Lindsay Liddell with the district attorney’s office said they would only unredact the Turners’ faces from the bodycam footage if they gave specific permission. Officer names, the bodycam numbers, and even vehicles at the scene were all hidden in the videos provided to This Is Reno.

“(This) is absolutely them covering up their own crimes,” Kera said.

This Is Reno settled the case, and Washoe County has to pay the costs of the case and all of Busby’s fees. 

Read part seven tomorrow: “The Turners fight back.” Subscribe to read the seven-part series.