The Ohio Supreme Court is ordering Blendon Township to respond to a records request that would reveal the name of the officer who shot and killed Ta'Kiya Young in August of last year.
The court issued an order last week telling the Blendon Township Police Department to give the court, under seal, any documents that would be responsive to a public records request submitted by Nadine Young, who is Ta'Kiya's grandmother. She was seeking the names of the two officers involved in the shooting.
The records would only be viewed by the Ohio Supreme Court justices, because of the records being under seal.
In January, WOSU received confirmation from the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office that Officer Connor Grubb fatally shot Ta'Kiya Young. The office swapped police shooting cases with Montgomery County.
Despite the swap, the case will still go before a Franklin County Grand Jury to decide whether or not Grubb will be criminally charged.
Grubb fatally shot Ta'Kiya Young, 21, on Aug. 24, after he and another officer confronted Young inside her car.
In body camera footage released in October, Grubb could be seen approaching Young's car. A few moments later, Young tried pulling away from the scene and her car pushed Grubb. Grubb then fired one shot through the windshield, striking Young in the chest. Young and her unborn child died the same day at St. Ann's Hospital. The faces of Grubb and the other officer were blurred out in the body camera footage.
Blendon Township Police cited Marsy's Law to justify shielding their identities. Marsy's Law is an Ohio constitutional amendment passed to provide victims of crimes and their families more protections and ample notifications about court cases.
Blendon Township has continued to refuse to identify Grubb and the other officer.
The order from the Ohio Supreme Court indicates that it might take up a challenge to Blendon Township's use of Marsy's Law.
Columbus Police have also used Marsy's Law in this way since it went into effect. The original advocates who helped pass Marsy's Law say they disagree with the legislation being used in this way.
The complaint argues that Ta’Kiya Young, and not the two unidentified BTPD officers, meet the definition of “victim” in the Ohio Constitution and Ohio Revised Code, and, therefore, the two unidentified BTPD officers have no right to redaction of their names and identifying information. The complaint also argues that failure to release these records to Nadine Young violates her state constitutional rights and the general public policy favoring open government records.
The Florida Supreme Court ruled in November that that state's version of Marsy's Law didn't apply to police officers.
